"RSS ("Really Simple Syndication" or "Rich Site Summary," depending on whom you ask) has three distinct advantages over Web browsing and e-mail, the two most popular ways to read news online. First, no ads or graphics clutter the headlines and article summaries. True, most news sites make you click through to the full Web page to read the whole story, but scanning an RSS reader is still more efficient than looking at, say, the front page of the New York Times online. And bloggers, who don't depend on ads for survival, usually stuff their entire posts into RSS." 05-08

"With as many as 1 million people still at risk, it is conceivable that the death toll will, within days, approach that of the entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur."

"The cold truth is that states rarely undertake military action unless their national interests are at stake; and the world has yet to reach a consensus about when, and under what circumstances, coercive interventions in the name of averting humanitarian disasters are permissible. As the response to the 2004 tsunami proved, the world's capacity for mercy is limitless. But we still haven't figured out when to give war a chance." 05-08

"After two weeks of contentious and often emotional debate, the federal government's far-reaching and historic plan to bail out the nation's financial system was signed into law by President Bush on Friday afternoon." 10-08

"Strains worsened overnight in the credit markets, the plumbing of the economy that many businesses rely on to finance routine expenses like utilities and payroll. Banks sharply increased their lending rates on short-term loans, sending Libor, a globally watched benchmark rate, to its highest level ever. Several measures of anxiety in the market reached record highs. And new injections of money into the markets by central banks failed to dampen a hoarding mentality among financial institutions."

" ''The money markets have completely broken down, with no trading taking place at all,' said Christoph Rieger, a fixed-income strategist at Dresdner Kleinwort in Frankfurt. 'There is no market any more. Central banks are the only providers of cash to the market; no one else is lending.' " 10-08

"Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich embarked on 'political corruption crime spree' and tried to benefit from his ability to appoint President-elect Barack Obama's replacement in the U.S. Senate, federal officials said Tuesday."

"A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democrat was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti." 12-08

"An AP-Gfk poll released Wednesday found that just 25 percent of likely voters believe Palin has the right experience to be president. That's down from 41 percent just after the GOP convention, when the Alaska governor made her well-received debut on the national stage." 10-08

"The 106-page bill established sweeping powers for Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, and his successor, in carrying out what the bill calls the 'Troubled Asset Relief Program,' whose acronym is TARP." 09-08

"The House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue package, ignoring urgent pleas from President Bush and bipartisan congressional leaders to quickly bail out the staggering financial industry." 09-08

"Congressional leaders said that adding tax breaks and increasing federal deposit insurance should improve chances a $700 billion financial rescue plan will pass the Senate Wednesday night, a message that didn’t resonate very much with a still-skidding stock market."

Editor's Note: The "bailout" bill has been changed to a "rescue" bill. 10-08

"Asian markets plunged during Monday trading and European stocks opened on the same downward slope, as global investors took scant comfort from Washington's passage of a $700 billion bank bailout and focused instead on deepening financial turmoil in Europe that threatens to slow global growth." 10-08

"A national poll of people who watched the first presidential debate suggests that Barack Obama came out on top, but there was overwhelming agreement that both Obama and John McCain would be able to handle the job of president if elected." 09-08

"Congressional leaders and the Bush administration reached a tentative deal early Sunday on a landmark bailout of imperiled financial markets whose collapse could plunge the nation into a deep recession." 09-08

"House Republicans, who've been swamped with your phone calls demanding that they reject President George Bush's historically huge $700 billion bailout of Wall Street and bad mortgage bankers, have come up with another idea: Instead of just buying the worthless mortgages, make the banks buy insurance from Washington, which would pay on those that default." 09-08

"As the debate over a $700 billion bank bailout rages on in Washington, one of the nation’s largest banks — Washington Mutual Inc. — has collapsed under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market."

"One positive is that the sale of WaMu’s assets to JPMorgan Chase prevents the thrift’s collapse from depleting the FDIC’s insurance fund. But that detail is likely to give only marginal solace to Americans facing tighter lending and watching their stock portfolios plunge in the wake of the nation’s most momentous financial crisis since the Great Depression." 09-08

"After initially dismissing the appointment out of hand, Dems have been put on the defensive, and they are now quick to say that if Burris were to be appointed by Lieut. Governor Pat Quinn, they would accept Burris with open arms. 'This is a lose-lose situation for Reid and the Democrats,' says Mark J. Rozell, a political science professor at George Mason University in Virginia. 'They can either look like they are accepting the choice of a corrupt governor who tried to sell the seat or they can look like bullies denying the seat to a guy who has done nothing wrong.' " 01-09

"President-elect Barack Obama hailed a rare Oval Office gathering of all U.S. presidents as extraordinary on Wednesday, while President George W. Bush wished him well and pledged that the office 'transcends the individual.' " 01-09

"Bush took the nation to war against a tactic, rather than a war against a specific enemy, which was obviously al Qaeda and anyone allied to it. When the United States went to war against the Nazis and the Japanese during World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt and his congressional supporters did not declare war against U-boats and kamikaze pilots, but on the Nazi state and Imperial Japan."

"The war on terror, sometimes known as the 'Global War on Terror' or by the clunky acronym GWOT, became the lens through which the Bush administration judged almost all of its foreign policy decisions. That proved to be dangerously counterproductive on several levels."

"Obama should also make it clear that instead of the Bush formulation of 'Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists,' the Obama administration doctrine will be, 'Anyone who is against the terrorists is with us.' "

"After all it is only al Qaeda and its several affiliates in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Algeria and allied groups such as the Taliban that kill U.S. soldiers and civilians and attack American interests around the globe."

"Everyone else in the world is a potential or actual ally in the fight against al Qaeda and its affiliates, because those organizations threaten almost every category of institution, government and ethnic grouping." 01-09

" 'This is not the America I know,' President George W. Bush said after the first, horrifying pictures of U.S. troops torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq surfaced in April 2004. The President was not telling the truth. 'This' was the America he had authorized on Feb. 7, 2002, when he signed a memorandum stating that the Third Geneva Convention — the one regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners taken in wartime — did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. That signature led directly to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. It was his single most callous and despicable act. It stands at the heart of the national embarrassment that was his presidency."

"It should be noted that there was, and is, no evidence that these techniques actually work. Experienced military and FBI interrogators believe that torture leads, more often than not, to fabricated confessions. Patient, persistent questioning using subtle psychological carrots and sticks is the surest way to get actionable information. But prisoners held by the U.S. were tortured — first at Guantánamo Bay and later in Afghanistan and Iraq." 01-09

"Seldom has an American President's visit left the region so underwhelmed, confirming Bush's huge unpopularity on the street and his sagging credibility among Arab leaders he counts as allies. Part of the problem was the Administration's increasingly mixed message, amplified by the intense media coverage of his trip. For example, in Dubai he gave what the White House billed as a landmark speech calling for "democratic freedom in the Middle East." But during his last stop in Sharm el-Sheikh Wednesday, he lauded President Hosni Mubarak as an experienced, valued strategic partner for regional peace and security and made no mention of Cairo's ongoing crackdown on opponents and critics — and the continuing imprisonment of Mubarak's main opponent in the 2005 presidential election." 01-08

"In a bare-knuckle fight on one side of the aisle and cruise control on the other, Sen. Hillary Clinton edged out Sen. Barack Obama in the Nevada Democratic caucuses, notching her third primary win in a row, while Republican Mitt Romney crushed his rivals for an easy victory." 01-08

"Based on entrance poll results, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will win the Nevada Republican Caucuses, his second victory this week after a disappointing loss in the Iowa caucus last month." 01-08

"Rudy Giuliani, who sought to make the leap from New York mayor to the White House, dropped out of the Republican presidential campaign on Wednesday and endorsed front-runner John McCain for the nomination." 01-08

"Former Sen. John Edwards suspended his campaign for president Wednesday, bringing to a close his fierce underdog campaign that had stressed a populist message of helping the underprivileged and struggling middle class." 01-08

"John McCain's victory in the Florida primary sends the Arizona senator into Super Tuesday with a burst of momentum, but the race for the Republican presidential nomination remains highly competitive." 01-08

"The New York Giants’ thrilling win over New England was the most-watched Super Bowl ever with 97.5 million viewers, a total that is second only to the “M-A-S-H” finale audience, Nielsen Media Research said Monday." 02-08

"Prospects for nearly emissions-free coal power in the United States have dimmed in the wake of the US Department of Energy's decision to pull the plug on a 'clean coal' demonstration plant called FutureGen, observers say."

"Under the deal, 13 partners – including China, Australia, Britain, and Germany – would have paid 26 percent of the cost with the DOE paying 74 percent. A key part of FuturGen was the potential environmental impact, some environmentalists say because China's coal-fired power plants are among the largest emitters of greenhouse gases." 02-08

"President Bush (c.), held a laptop showing the electronic version of the fiscal 2009 Federal Budget during a meeting at the White House in Washington. The new budget has provoked controversy because of its proposals for higher military spending, deep cuts in social and infrastructure projects, and a prediction that the 2008 federal deficit would hit $410 billion at the end of this fiscal year - more than double the size of the 2007 deficit." 02-08

"Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton fought for front-runner status in a tightening Democratic contest, while Republican John McCain hoped to bury rival Mitt Romney's presidential hopes in voting from Alaska to the Atlantic on Super Tuesday, the biggest primary day in U.S. history."

"The vote is almost a national primary: each party was holding contests in more than 20 states, including some of the most populous, such as California and New York. At stake are about half the delegates who will choose a nominee at party conventions in August and September." 02-08

"Sen. John McCain seized command of the race for the Republican presidential nomination early Wednesday, winning delegate-rich primaries from the East Coast to California. Democratic rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama traded victories in an epic struggle with no end in sight." 02-08

"Romney's exit was a surprise to his supporters and staffers, reports CBS News' Scott Conroy. Minutes before Romney suspended his campaign, staffers were still hanging campaign signs and balloons in the ballroom." 02-08

"Top intelligence officers publicly confirmed for the first time that three suspected terrorists were waterboarded and warned that al-Qaida is establishing cells in other countries, particularly Pakistan, to plan attacks within the United States."

Editor's Note: Use of torture violates United States law (passed last year) and international law. 02-08

"Part of an elite parachute infantry sniper-scout platoon, Sgt. Evan Vela is accused of murdering an unarmed Iraqi that his five-man squad had taken captive after the man breached their hideout." 02-08

" 'When I decided to run,' he says, 'my calculation was that it was a long shot but that there was a possibility that the skills I had to offer—bringing people together, a track record of pushing against the special interests, a 20-year history of working at a grass-roots level to help working families, pretty well-developed evidence of being straight with people—that that might be what the country needs right now," he says. 'And you know for us to have achieved what we've achieved so far is less, I think, a testament to me than it is to the American people and their eagerness for a fundamental shift in how we do business.' " 02-08

"Supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton are worried that convoluted delegate rules in Texas could water down the impact of strong support for her among Hispanic voters there, creating a new obstacle for her in the must-win presidential primary contest." 02-08

"Obama's most convincing victory came in Virginia, a state itching to switch from red to blue in 2008. He swept most demographic groups there, including such alleged Clinton strongholds as white men and Latinos. The size of the Virginia victory can be attributed, in part, to the momentum Obama had gathered over the preceding weekend in caucus states like Nebraska and Maine. And his blowout victories in those places can be attributed to the fact that he is running a smarter, more rigorous campaign than Clinton is." 02-08

"A new report by French scientists in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences finds that king penguins could be wiped out over the coming decades due to global warming."

"If global warming means they're not getting enough food, the conditions below the penguins could be even worse. Temperature rise due to climate change is occurring quicker at the poles than the rest of the planet — on the Antarctic Peninsula, temperatures have risen five times faster than the global average over the past 50 years." 02-08

"Notching his ninth straight win in roughly two weeks' time, Barack Obama forged another broad coalition of whites, blacks and political independents to cruise to a resounding victory over Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin on Tuesday. Obama's win, though widely predicted, was by a wider (double-digit) margin than many had expected and lends him an unusual and enviable momentum as the race turns now to Ohio and Texas on March 4." 02-08

"Clinton was clearly intent on positioning herself as a fighter who could take on Republicans in the fall and all enemies, foreign and domestic, after that. Obama by contrast seemed far more interested in establishing himself as a cool conciliator, who could bridge the differences that divide his party and the nation." 2-08

"Obama's successful recruitment of outsiders was born of necessity — Clinton enjoys endorsements from Ohio's popular governor and many Democratic officeholders. If she retains her (albeit shrinking) lead in the polls, it will mean that a traditional, top-down campaign rooted in the party establishment still can win in the clutch. But if Obama scores an upset, it could prove that a new breed of grassroots campaign — viral, internet-based, built from the ground up by neophytes like Antoinette McCall — is finally ready for prime time." 02-08

"It is some story. And I have always wondered why it was never told properly to the American people, who were paying for it. It was, for example, Bush who initiated the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with cross-party support led by Senators John Kerry and Bill Frist. In 2003, only 50,000 Africans were on HIV antiretroviral drugs — and they had to pay for their own medicine. Today, 1.3 million are receiving medicines free of charge. The U.S. also contributes one-third of the money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria — which treats another 1.5 million. It contributes 50% of all food aid (though some critics find the mechanism of contribution controversial). On a seven-day trip through Africa, Bush announced a fantastic new $350 million fund for other neglected tropical diseases that can be easily eradicated; a program to distribute 5.2 million mosquito nets to Tanzanian kids; and contracts worth around $1.2 billion in Tanzania and Ghana from the Millennium Challenge Account, another initiative of the Bush Administration." 02-08

"Hillary Clinton's popular vote victories in Texas and Ohio fundamentally change the race for the Democratic presidential nomination in at least one important way: she's still in the race for the nomination. Clinton's long, arduous campaign might have ended abruptly if Obama delivered a knock-out blow in either state." 03-08

"Her only plausible path to the nomination is to win a majority of superdelegates (party and public officials) and, perhaps, to reverse the party's decision disqualifying the Michigan and Florida delegations, i.e., overruling the voters in one case and changing the rules after the game has been played in the other. This might pass muster if the national polls show an unambiguous and substantial move toward Clinton. Otherwise, in more likely and ambiguous circumstances, a Clinton nomination will seem illegitimate to many who have been swooning over Obama and streaming into polling booths because he alone offers hope. The March 4 exit polls show increasing percentages of Democratic primary voters unwilling to accept the rejection of their candidate. Each candidate has an incentive to attack on grounds that will weaken the other in the general election, as Clinton has already started to do with her 'red phone' ad." 03-08

"Sen. Barack Obama scored a victory in the Mississippi primary Tuesday, nudging his delegate advantage over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton. With nearly a dozen primary contests remaining, political analysts weigh how the battle for delegates may be waged in Pennsylvania and beyond." 03-08

"ABC News' Jonathan Karl Reports: The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report's release and will no longer make the report available online." 03-08

"The chamber voted 52-47 to reject a move by Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., to extend Bush's tax cuts for middle- and higher-income taxpayers, investors and people inheriting businesses and big estates."

"That vote came immediately after the Senate gave a sweeping 99-1 tally to an amendment by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., endorsing cuts aimed at low-income workers, married couples and people with children." 03-08

"The options for Florida Dems seems to have boiled down to two. Let the results of its renegade Jan. 29 primary stand or, as Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean proposes, pay for a privately administered mail-in primary to replace the results of the earlier "unsanctioned" vote. (In January, the state had bucked DNC rules and set its own earlier primary date. The DNC cracked down, forbidding candidates to raise funds or campaign for that vote; furthermore, its 210 delegates would not be seated at the convention.)" 03-08

"Today, another quite a day, on top of a week of -- already we've seen a lot of turmoil in the economy. Today, David Wessel, the stock market fell almost 200 points. You had what is apparently an unprecedented bailout by the Federal Reserve of the nation's fifth-largest investment bank."

"A federal appeals court Tuesday struck down a state law requiring airlines to give food, water, clean toilets and fresh air to passengers stuck in delayed planes, saying the measure was well-intentioned but stepped on federal authority." 03-08

"Hillary Rodham Clinton's path to the Democratic nomination has steepened, with Florida and Michigan giving up last week on new primaries and the Democratic Party refusing to count delegates from those states without new contests." 03-08

"The US Supreme Court on Tuesday delivered a setback to President Bush's expansive vision of presidential power, ruling that a unilateral attempt by Mr. Bush to order state courts to comply with an international treaty violated 'first principles' of constitutional government." 03-08

"Obama led Clinton 59 percent to 41 percent in results reported from conventions held across the state before counting stopped for the night — the latest stage of a process that prompted frustration and challenges from supporters of both candidates. Obama showed strength later in the count after his rival built a 60-40 edge in Saturday's initial results."

"Results were in from about half of the approximately 280 conventions before the tallying was suspended for the night." 03-08

"Donald Siegelman, former governor of Alabama, was ordered released from prison on Thursday by a federal appeals court, pending his appeal of a bribery conviction that Democrats say resulted from a politically driven prosecution."

"In its order, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, said Mr. Siegelman had raised 'substantial questions' in his appeal of the case and could be released on bond from the federal prison in Oakdale, La., where he has served nine months of a seven-year sentence. The order did not say what those questions were, but his lawyers have argued for months that the bribery charge on which he was mainly convicted revolved around a transaction that differed little, if at all, from a standard political contribution." 03-08

"In proposing the broadest overhaul of financial oversight since the Great Depression, the Bush administration has kicked off a fierce debate. It pits those eager to revamp an antiquated system against an industry opposed to excessive regulation."

"The administration is aware of the hardening lines. The 200-page plan set for release Monday comes with the financial system in the midst of the most severe credit crisis in two generations." 03-08

"Top executives of the country's five biggest oil companies said Tuesday they know record fuel prices are hurting people, but they argued it's not their fault and their huge profits are in line with other industries." 04-08

"Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, waging an intense fight for working-class voters in Pennsylvania, replaced her chief campaign strategist Mark Penn on Sunday following the disclosure that he was working to push a trade deal that Clinton opposes." 04-08

"The U.S. general commanding the Iraq war called Tuesday for an open-ended suspension of U.S. troop withdrawals this summer, asserting that an overly rapid withdrawal would jeopardize recent security gains." 04-08

"McCain has promised to campaign in favor of an open-ended commitment with the clear goal of achieving a broad victory of a stable, functioning nation. The Democratic candidates will campaign on the promise of a limited commitment that would willingly leave behind a less stable nation to reduce the U.S. cost of blood and treasure, while allowing for an increased military commitment in Afghanistan to fight al-Qaeda and the Taliban. McCain has not yet defined any limits on his commitment, if the U.S. effort began to fail, and the Democrats have yet to clearly define the extent of instability in Iraq that would be acceptable to leave behind." 04-08

"Cell phone users will get text message alerts of emergencies under a new nationwide alert system approved late Wednesday by the Federal Communications Commission, according to FCC spokesman Robert Kenny." 04-08

"The [GAO] agency, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded that Iraq's oil revenues could top $100 billion in 2007 and 2008."

"When President Bush announced he was dispatching almost 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq in January 2007, he told Americans that Iraqis would spend $10 billion on reconstruction projects and pass a law allocating the country's oil wealth as steps toward a political settlement of the war."

"The GAO, however, found Iraq had spent only 7 percent of that budget by November 2007, and the proposed oil law has stalled in the country's fractious parliament." 04-08

"On the same day the Pentagon's commander in Iraq told the Senate that new troop withdrawals could not considered for months, Secretary of Veterans Affairs James B. Peake told two Democratic senators that his department will not help injured veterans at VA facilities to register to vote before the 2008 election." 04-08

"At least 250,000 passengers have been affected by the American cancellations this week alone."

"The cancellations come at a time of high fuel prices and mixed success among the major air carriers at getting domestic fare increases to stick. The fact that airplanes are flying very full is making it difficult for airlines that cancel flights to find empty seats on other carriers to rebook their passengers." 04-08

"President Bush says he knew his top national security advisers discussed and approved specific details about how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to an exclusive interview with ABC News Friday."

"The high-level discussions about these 'enhanced interrogation techniques' were so detailed, these sources said, some of the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed -- down to the number of times CIA agents could use a specific tactic."

"These top advisers signed off on how the CIA would interrogate top al Qaeda suspects -- whether they would be slapped, pushed, deprived of sleep or subjected to simulated drowning, called waterboarding, sources told ABC news." 04-08

"Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that the potential for life begins at conception as she and presidential rival Sen. Barack Obama answered questions about faith and religion in both their personal lives and the public discourse." 04-08

"The raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, produced haunting images: 416 children, the girls in calico dresses, removed from log cabin homes, looking questioningly into nowhere as they were led from their polygamist enclave into a secular world they have always been taught to fear." 04-08

"Clinton, D-N.Y., needs to demonstrate she's still in control of Pennsylvania -- her perilous path still intact despite distractions and obstacles of her own -- and sow the kind of serious doubts about Obama she needs to spring in the minds of superdelegates."

"Yet the polls are looking more sweet than bitter for Obama, D-Ill.: The new ABC News/Washington Post national poll gives Obama an 11-point edge on the question of whom Democrats would like to see as the nominee -- and shows a spike in Clinton's negative perceptions." 04-08

"Some 300,000 U.S. troops are suffering from major depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 320,000 received brain injuries, a new study estimates." 04-08

"On Tuesday night, you will be told who the winner of the Pennsylvania Primary is. You will accept it. You will have no choice. No matter who the winner really is. Or isn't."

"This Tuesday's crucial contest will be primarily run on 100% faith-based, Direct Recording Electronic (DRE, usually touch-screen or push-button) e-voting machines across the state. There will be no way to determine after the election whether the computers have accurately recorded, or not, the intent of those voters who voted on them. As VerifiedVoting.org summarizes the crucial contest, it 'will be essentially unrecountable, unverifiable, and unauditable.' " 04-08

"And despite the hype this season about small donations —those of $200 or less—flooding candidates' coffers, the survey says: Overall, not so much. Though Democrat Barack Obama has raised more from small donations than large—$101 million to $83 million, the bottom line is that this campaign has shown 'only an incremental, though significant change in the overall balance between small and large donations.' That seems largely due to Obama's fellow Dem Hillary Clinton, who has collected $82 million in large and $44 million in small donations; and GOP candidate John McCain, who has raised $45 million in large and $16 million in small donations." 04-08

"If an Obama collapse of the sort Clinton needs to gain the nomination was ever going to happen, it was in that month and a half between Ohio and Pennsylvania. Yet despite increased criticism and scrutiny, Obama has expanded his lead over Clinton in national polls. He cut her margin in Pennsylvania down to 10 points, and he actually improved his performance from Ohio in the demographic groups he needed to demonstrate he could win: voters with no college education or those over 65, white men, those making less than $50,000, and self-described conservatives."

"Even so, the real winner of the Democratic race in Pennsylvania is John McCain. The most significant number coming out of Tuesday night wasn't Clinton's 10 point margin of victory, but 43. That's the percentage of Clinton voters who say they would stay home or vote for McCain if Obama is the party's nominee in November. It is no longer just the Chicken Littles within the party who openly worry about an outcome that leaves large blocks of women or African-Americans frustrated and alienated." 04-08

"And they counterbalance one another to the point where Obama and Clinton end up running almost equally against McCain among all registered voters -- as we note each day when we look at our latest Gallup tracking results. If one of these candidates is really more electable against McCain than the other, one could think we should see it in our national data. To be more electable means getting more votes. At this point neither Obama nor Clinton gets more votes than the other against McCain." 04-08

"The globe's worst food crisis in a generation emerged as a blip on the big boards and computer screens of America's great grain exchanges. At first, it seemed like little more than a bout of bad weather." 04-08

"Ricardo Sanchez, the commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq in 2003-2004, has written a new memoir, Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story, an account of his life and his service in Iraq. Sanchez was a three-star general — and the military's senior Hispanic officer — when he led U.S. forces in the first year of the war." 04-08

"There have always been 'haves' and 'have-nots' in the United States, but over the past three decades, the gap between them has gotten a lot wider, statistics from congressional numbers crunchers show. " 04-08

"Today, two of the three presidential candidates — John McCain and Hillary Clinton — have proposed a “holiday” on gasoline taxes. It sounds great, but it’s a terrible idea."

"Eliminating the federal tax, about 18 cents a gallon, would encourage more driving, putting added pressure on supplies, and driving the underlying price of gasoline higher. Since gasoline taxes go to pay for rebuilding crumbling roads and bridges, this is probably not a good time to do away with them." 05-08

"Short words and clauses were the order, with simplicity and clarity the goal. A self-described 'idealist without illusions,' JFK preferred a cool, cerebral approach and had little use for florid expression and complex prose. He liked alliteration, 'not solely for reasons of rhetoric but to reinforce the audience's recollection of his reasoning.' His taste for contrapuntal phrasing—never negotiating out of fear but never fearing to negotiate—illustrated his dislike of extreme opinions and options." 05-08

"Obama's victory in North Carolina and Clinton's narrow win in Indiana led one of Clinton's most prominent backers, Sen. George McGovern, to switch his support from Clinton to Obama, Clinton campaign sources said."

"The Democratic presidential nominee in 1972 also said he urged Clinton to drop out of the race, saying it was virtually impossible for her to win the nomination."

"The most important outcome of Tuesday's primaries may be that Obama widened his lead over Clinton in the crucial delegate race. The senator from Illinois won a majority of the 219 delegates at stake Tuesday, allowing him to up his total delegate count to 1,836, CNN estimates, a 155 delegate lead over Clinton." 05-08

"Sen. Barack Obama took a major step Tuesday toward securing the Democratic presidential nomination. He not only scored a convincing victory in North Carolina, but he also made Hillary Clinton's path to the nomination even more difficult by finishing closely behind her in Indiana." 05-08

"Barack Obama all but erased Hillary Clinton's once-imposing lead among national convention superdelegates on Friday and won fresh labor backing as elements of the Democratic Party began coalescing around the Illinois senator for the fall campaign." 05-08

"Doctors for the Massachusetts Democrat say tests conducted after Kennedy suffered a seizure this weekend show a tumor in his left parietal lobe. His treatment will be decided after more tests but the usual course includes combinations of radiation and chemotherapy." News coverage suggests that his prognosis is poor for the type of cancer involved. 05-08

"The hearings, the latest step in what is believed to be the largest child protection case in U.S. history, are the first attempt to sort out what should be done for each individual child, rather than treating them en masse." 05-08

"An interesting and important ruling from the Court today upholding a federal law banning the distribution or solicitation of child pornography. It’s obviously an area of growing concern, with advances in technology and easy transmission through the Internet." 05-08

"A new poll released today in California finds political momentum shifting dramatically toward Barack Obama—and away from both Hillary Clinton and John McCain—in the nation's most populous state. According to a survey conducted over the past 10 days by the Public Policy Institute of California, 59 percent of likely voters here now have a 'favorable' impression of Democrat Obama, while a majority view both of the other candidates unfavorably. In a state whose Democratic primary Clinton won in February, 51 percent of voters now say they have an unfavorable opinion of her; 53 percent of voters feel the same way about Republican McCain."

"In California, at least, Latinos and low-income whites—two groups who strongly supported Clinton in the state's primary—have rallied behind their second choice in the months since February. 'These numbers are particularly telling in a state that Clinton won easily,' says Baldassare. 'For Democrats who supported Clinton, time has passed, and looking at the general election, up against McCain, they are coming together.' " 05-08

"A bipartisan group of 54 former state attorneys general from across the country has filed a federal appeals brief supporting former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman's bid to overturn his criminal conviction." 05-08

"The committee agreed on a compromise offered by the Michigan Democratic Party that would split the difference, allowing Clinton to take 69 delegates and Obama 59. Each delegate would get half a vote at the convention in Denver this summer, according to the deal."

"They also agreed to seat the Florida delegation based on the outcome of the January primary, with 105 pledged delegates for Clinton and 67 for Obama, but with each delegate getting half a vote as a penalty."

"The resolution increased the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to 2,118, leaving Obama 66 delegates short but still within striking distance after the three final primaries are held in the next three days." 05-08

"Hillary Rodham Clinton won a lopsided, but largely symbolic victory Sunday in Puerto Rico's presidential primary, the final act in a weekend of tumult that brought Barack Obama tantalizingly close to the Democratic presidential nomination." 06-08

"Barack Obama effectively clinched the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday, the Associated Press reported, citing its tally of convention delegates. He would become the first black candidate ever to lead a major U.S. party into a fall campaign for the White House."

"The AP report, which cited two campaign sources, said the former first lady would stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City, but that for all intents and purposes the campaign was over." 06-08

Mike Halperin of Time "grades" each of the 2008 Presidential contenders. Of Hillary Clinton, he said: "Able to look commanding and presidential even as she fielded niggling, hoary questions that bordered on the absurd." 06-07

"Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton will endorse Senator Barack Obama on Friday, bringing a close to her 17-month campaign for the White House, aides said. Her decision came after Democrats urged her on Wednesday to leave the race and allow the party to coalesce around Mr. Obama." 06-08

"After clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama on Wednesday went on the offensive against Republican opponent John McCain, who responded by inviting his rival to hold a series of town hall meetings with him across the country to debate issues." 06-08

"The survey evidence is mixed, on the extent to which vice-presidential choices help a ticket win. Although one obvious reason for choosing a vice president is to help carry a particular state or region, many past choices have come from states that reliably vote for one party or the other." 06-08

"Schwarzenegger directed the state Department of Water Resources to help speed water transfers to areas with the worst shortages, to help local water districts with conservation efforts and to assist farmers suffering losses from the drought." 06-08

"Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, held a narrow 2 point lead over his Republican counterpart among registered voters, 47 percent to 45 percent, according to CNN's average of four recent national polls. Nearly 10 percent said they were undecided." 06-08

Provides the text of the Congressional Record on the 35 Articles of Impeachment against President George W. Bush for "high crimes and misdemeanors." The Articles were introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. If one or more Articles of Impeachment are passed by a simple majority of the House of Representatives, then the President is "impeached." The matter then goes to the Senate for a trial to determine if the President is guity as charged. 06-08

"The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts."

"In its third rebuke of the Bush administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government is violating the rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charges at the U.S. naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority."

"Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court, said, 'The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.' " 06-08

" 'It's the faith, Brother:' there, in a phrase from the early summer of 2006, was, in a way, the essence of Timothy John Russert Jr., who died of a heart attack last Friday afternoon. In that brief chat the many sides of Russert were on display: he was cajoling and charming, playing it straight, pushing others to be braver and bolder, all in the service of creating an interesting conversation about the things that matter most." 06-08

"The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Boumediene v. Bush last week justifiably sent shock waves through the legal community. The majority opinion, authored by the ever wandering Justice Anthony Kennedy, disregarded both centuries of precedent and the military deference doctrine and also intruded on what is clearly the province of the political branches."

"Rather than argue back and forth on the case, however, policymakers must quickly review the implications of the decision and find mutual ground on how best to proceed. The political branches must seek a third way—neither the existing federal courts nor the military commissions but a specialized hybrid court with civilian oversight (often called a national security court)—as the best means to balance the interests of both national security and human rights." 06-08

"The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision in Boumediene v. Bush last week justifiably sent shock waves through the legal community. The majority opinion, authored by the ever wandering Justice Anthony Kennedy, disregarded both centuries of precedent and the military deference doctrine and also intruded on what is clearly the province of the political branches."

"Rather than argue back and forth on the case, however, policymakers must quickly review the implications of the decision and find mutual ground on how best to proceed. The political branches must seek a third way—neither the existing federal courts nor the military commissions but a specialized hybrid court with civilian oversight (often called a national security court)—as the best means to balance the interests of both national security and human rights." 06-08

"The House Friday easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government's terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country." 06-08

"A former White House spokesman told Congress on Friday that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney wanted him to say that Cheney's chief of staff wasn't involved in the leak of Valerie Plame's CIA identity, an assertion that turned out to be false."

"Libby was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in its investigation of the leak."

"Long after the waters subside, the floods that submerged the Midwest this month could turn out to be the region’s biggest economic disaster in decades, with ramifications that will be felt by consumers across the country."

"With levees still under pressure and more flooding expected, no one is ready to put an estimate on the final damage, but it will likely swamp the $21 billion in losses tallied by the Great Flood of 1993." 06-08

"John McCain raised almost as much money as Barack Obama in May, placing him virtually on the same financial footing as his Democratic rival — a level of parity that would have been unimaginable just a few months ago." 06-08

"A compromise deal to extend the federal government's domestic spying powers, passed by the House on Friday and expected to sail through the Senate next week, has drawn attacks from both sides of the political spectrum. The right is unhappy at concessions made to protect civil liberties; the left is furious that the Democrats allowed the domestic spying powers to be extended in any form." 06-08

"The state of the Iraq war, as it lurches into its sixth hot summer, is in the eye of the beholder. That much is clear from the release this week of a pair of U.S. government reports that offer dueling assessments of the situation in Iraq — a glass-half-empty version from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and a glass-half-full account from (surprise!) the Pentagon." 06-08

"Since becoming the presumptive nominee, nearly every step Obama has taken seems to underline the message that his brand of change is not threatening or even revolutionary."

"The shift hasn't just been cosmetic. The liberal blogosphere lit up angrily when Obama signed on to a controversial Senate compromise to authorize President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping programs last week."

"To be fair, Obama is not alone in his calculated repositioning. McCain, the Republican presumptive nominee, has been going through a similar process, struggling to reclaim his maverick mantel after he spent much of the primaries proving his conservative credentials by flip-flopping his positions on tax cuts and immigration." 06-08

"On March 4, three Midwestern University professors wrote to warn the Army Corps of Engineers that its concrete navigation structures in the Mississippi River were intensifying floods, and that its plans to build more wingdikes and weirs would 'exacerbate a severe and growing problem.' They called some of the structures — designed to scour out the river's bottom so that barges could pass — 'loaded cannons pointing at St. Louis and East St. Louis, waiting to go off in the next flood.' Citing 'clear and unequivocal data' from a dozen peer-reviewed articles, they declared that 'the time to ask these questions is now, and not in the aftermath of the next great flood.' "

"The Army Corps, the troubled, gung-ho public works agency that bears much of the blame for leaving New Orleans underwater, blew off the academics' concerns."

"The Army Corps is always completely confident, even when it's completely wrong. Its levees protecting St. Louis and East St. Louis survived this year's great flood, thanks in part to dozens of levee breaks upstream that reduced the pressure downstream, but there is powerful evidence that the Corps' mania for concrete significantly magnified the flood's power. Army Corps structures aren't the only reason 500-year floods seem to be hitting the Mississippi every 15 years, but a National Science Foundation-funded database of 8 million hydrologic measurements suggests they are the most important reason." 06-08

"Ridgley is one of five homeowners in the U.S. to participate in the project known as 'Edible Estates,' in which homeowners trade their mowed and ornamental lawns for artistic arrangements of organic produce."

"In 1943, Americans planted 20.5 million Victory Gardens, and the harvest accounted for nearly one-third of all the vegetables consumed in the country that year."

"Twenty-five million U.S. households planted vegetable and fruit gardens in 2007, according to Bruce Butterfield of the National Gardener's Association, and that number is expected to increase by several million this year." 06-08

"Congress on Thursday night approved a $162 billion spending bill for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

"The bill, given final approval Thursday in the Senate on a 92-6 vote, also provides veterans a free college education and extends expiring unemployment benefits for another 13 weeks. It provides $2.7 billion in emergency flood relief in the Midwest." 06-08

"The bill amending the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is a compromise reached after a monthslong standoff and weeks of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans. In exchange for telecom immunity, the inspectors general of the Pentagon, Justice Department and intelligence agencies will investigate the administration's warrantless wiretapping program." 06-08

"Back in early 2002, George Bush called North Korea a charter member of the axis of evil. This morning, the President gave Kim Jong Il one of the diplomatic plums the North Korean dictator has most sought: removal from both the State Sponsors of Terrorism list and the Trading with the Enemy Act. In short, Pyongyang is now off what one State Department official called "the ultimate bad guy list." Dropping North Korea from the terrorism roster will take effect 45 days after the Administration formally informs Congress of its decision." 06-08

"Soon after American forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003, Gen. Tommy R. Franks surprised senior Army officers by revamping the Baghdad-based military command."

"The unclassified study, the second volume in a continuing history of the Iraq conflict, is as noteworthy for who prepared it as for what it says. In essence, the study is an attempt by the Army to tell the story of one of the most contentious periods in its history to military experts — and to itself." 06-08

"The number of civilians killed in fighting between insurgents and security forces in Afghanistan has soared by two-thirds in the first half of this year, to almost 700 people, a senior U.N. official said Sunday."

"The figures are a grim reminder of how the nearly seven-year war has failed to stabilize the country and suggest that ordinary civilians are bearing a heavy toll, particularly from stepped-up militant attacks." 06-08

"For much of its term, the Supreme Court muted last year's noisy dissents, warmed to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s vision of narrow, incremental decisions and continued a slow but hardly steady move to the right."

"But as justices finished their work last week, two overarching truths about the court remained unchanged: It is sharply divided ideologically on some of the most fundamental constitutional questions, and the coming presidential election will determine its future path."

"A victory by the presumptive Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, would probably mean preserving the uneasy but roughly balanced status quo, since the justices who are considered most likely to retire are liberal. A win for his Republican counterpart, John McCain, could mean a fundamental shift to a consistently conservative majority ready to take on past court rulings on abortion rights, affirmative action and other issues important to the right." 06-08

"Intelligence reports for more than a year had been streaming in about Osama bin Laden’s terrorism network rebuilding in the Pakistani tribal areas, a problem that had been exacerbated by years of missteps in Washington and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, sharp policy disagreements, and turf battles between American counterterrorism agencies." 06-08

"President Bush on Monday signed legislation to pay for the war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the rest of his presidency and beyond, hailing the $162 billion plan as a rare product of bipartisan cooperation." 06-08

"In my analysis, the lever machine deserves recognition as one of the most astonishing achievements of American technological genius, a fact that is reflected in their continued competitiveness against recent voting technologies in every accepted performance measure. With as many as 28,000 parts, their mechanisms reflect an agonizingly difficult period of development, spanning more than twenty years (1888-1919) in which interlocking mechanisms had to be developed that were capable of dealing with the enormous complexity and variety of American elections. The result was a machine that captures in its immutable mechanical operations the voting rules that the American people, in their wisdom, developed in order to capture the will of the people." 06-08

"The American colonel, troubled by what he was hearing, tried to stall at first. But the declassified record shows he finally told his South Korean counterpart it "would be permitted" to machine-gun 3,500 political prisoners, to keep them from joining approaching enemy forces." 07-08

"The Group of Eight leading industrial nations on Tuesday endorsed halving world emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, edging forward in the battle against global warming but stopping short of tough, nearer-term targets." 07-08

"A federal judge overseeing Guantanamo Bay lawsuits ordered the Justice Department to put other cases aside and make it clear throughout the Bush administration that, after nearly seven years of detention, the detainees must have their day in court." 07-08

"Iran test-fired nine long- and medium-range missiles Wednesday during war games that officials said were intended to show the country can retaliate against any U.S. or Israeli attack, state television reported." 07-08

"The Senate approved and sent to the White House a bill overhauling controversial rules on secret government eavesdropping Wednesday, bowing to President Bush's demand to protect telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans." 07-08

"Sen. Ted Kennedy, recovering from brain surgery and in the midst of chemotherapy treatments, returned to the Capitol on Wednesday to help Democrats break a Republican filibuster of a bill to keep a pay cut for Medicare doctors from going into effect." 07-08

"Former White House adviser Karl Rove defied a congressional subpoena and refused to testify Thursday about allegations of political pressure at the Justice Department, including whether he influenced the prosecution of a former Democratic governor of Alabama." 07-08

"Consumers at the gas pump aren't the only ones suffering sticker shock. Military units in Iraq and elsewhere will see another hike in fuel costs next week, the second midyear increase because of soaring oil prices." 07-08

"There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by former President Bush in 1990. The current president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself."

"The president, in his final months of office, has responded to record gas-prices with a series of proposals, including more oil exploration. None would have immediate impact on prices at the pump, according to White House officials, who say there is no quick fix. But starting action now would help, they say." 07-08

"Indeed, along with a smattering of Afghan tribal groups, Pakistani extremists, and drug kingpins, two of the most dangerous players are violent Afghan Islamists named Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, according to U.S. officials. In recent weeks, Hekmatyar has called upon Pakistani militants to attack U.S. targets, while the Haqqani network is blamed for three large vehicle bombings, along with the attempted assassination of Karzai in April." 07-08

"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is asking Congress to increase the companies' existing line of credit at the Treasury, and for the authority to buy unlimited stakes in the companies."

"Shares for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which buy or finance almost half of the $12 trillion of U.S. mortgages, plummeted last week over concerns that they might not have enough capital to handle losses from bad home loans."

"The two companies have been struggling for months, with the value of shares of the companies dropping some 75 percent in the last year. Both companies are publicly traded, but are chartered and government-sponsored enterprises." 07-08

"When added together the McCain campaign and RNC had $95 million cash-on-hand at the end of May, compared to just $40 million cash-on-hand for Obama and the DNC, McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis told reporters on a call last week. All told, between the RNC, the $85 million from the government, and state and local GOP fundraising, 'we're looking at a unified budget of over $400 million and I think that is a relative conservative number,' Davis said."

"In a video to donors Monday, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe warned that the McCain campaign has outspent Obama three-to-one in television ads since April. 'So now we face a position where both McCain and the RNC together have $96 million in the bank, almost $100 million,' Plouffe said." 07-08

"If it's difficult to see much difference between Barack Obama's first trip abroad since capturing the Democratic nomination and a genuine state visit by a sitting President, well, that's sort of the point of the whole exercise. Obama has stopped in Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and plans to visit the Palestinian territories, before heading off to Germany, France and England. Not everyone has treated Obama like a Commander in Chief, but some did him one better: after Obama joined King Abdullah II for dinner at the palace in Amman, the Jordanian leader hopped into his Mercedes and drove Obama to the airport himself." 07-08

"Congress approved mortgage relief for 400,000 struggling homeowners Saturday as part of an election-year housing plan that also aims to calm jittery financial markets and bolster the sagging economy. President Bush said he would sign it promptly, despite reservations." 07-08

"Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) asked members of the House Judiciary Committee to consider his calls to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney as a colorful hearing on executive power opened on Friday." 07-08

"The problem: while President Pervez Musharraf, the old soldier, is fading slowly away, new Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ashfaq Kayani is said to be quietly cutting deal after deal with Al Qaeda-linked militants, whose safe haven is growing beyond the tribal regions. And the still-green civilian government of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is all but powerless to interfere. The result is that militant and terrorist groups, feeling almost cozy in their newly secured territory, are mounting a fresh military and propaganda campaign and establishing a breathing space from which to plot future acts of terror." 07-08

"President Bush said Saturday he is eager to sign legislation that triples money to fight AIDS and other diseases around the world — an initiative that has won him praise from some of his harshest critics." 07-08

"With less than six months to go in office and unfinished business with Iran, North Korea, the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan, Rice has embarked on a grueling series of overseas trips and is packing in an impressive number of high-level meetings in Washington."

"The past two weeks have seen the administration make several remarkable breaks in past policy: sending a top diplomat to a meeting with Iran's nuclear negotiator and having Rice, while in Singapore, meet for the first time with North Korea's foreign minister."

"Although neither produced breakthroughs, the meetings have been seen by many as important policy shifts that will boost confidence in Bush's insistence that he wants to deal with both countries diplomatically." 07-08

"The legislation, which is expected to be signed into law by President Bush, is hugely ambitious, seeking at once to stem the tide of home foreclosures and restore confidence in mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. To critics, it's a bailout. To supporters, it's a rescue. But no matter what you call it, it is the most sweeping housing measure in decades." 07-08

"According to a U.S. military press release..., a car carrying 'three criminals' opened fire on a convoy of U.S. troops stopped on the roadside on the way to Baghdad International Airport at 8:40 a.m. 'The Soldiers [from the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division] returned fire, which resulted in the vehicle running off the road and striking a wall. The vehicle then exploded,' read the release. The military statement also said 'a weapon was recovered from the wreckage,' and 'two MND-B convoy vehicles received bullet hole damage from the small arms fire.' But the Iraqi police report, which was obtained by TIME, had a different account: 'Twenty-seven bullet holes [were found] on the right-hand side of [Mehdi's] car. [We] found two bullets of caliber 50 mm inside the car... We did not see or find any weapons or empty cartridges inside the car.' "

"For the past year, the road to Baghdad's airport, where Mehdi's car burned that morning, has been one of the most heavily secured roads in Baghdad. The Iraqi government has contracted a private British security firm, Global Strategies Group, to control a series of checkpoints leading up to the airport, which include multiple ID checks and a car X-ray scan for explosives. At one checkpoint, passengers are asked to exit the car completely, leaving all doors open, including the trunk and hood, while Global security guards lead sniffer dogs around each car, checking inside and outside again for explosives."

"Like the Iraqi police report, the Global statement said that no weapons had been found at the scene and that Mehdi's car had been searched at all of the Global checkpoints prior to the incident. It also stated there was 'no evidence' the three people in the car had displayed any hostility towards the American convoy."

"According to a Global Security statement obtained by TIME, the American platoon had been on its way to a military base near the airport, when they were forced to pull over because one humvee was having engine trouble. It said that one of the soldiers on the ground said he thought he heard gunfire and alerted the others through their headsets. The gunner of the first humvee quickly rotated in his turret to face the road and fired on a car that was speeding past the convoy. That car turned out to be Mehdi's." 07-08

"The American military admitted Sunday night that a platoon of soldiers raked a car of innocent Iraqi civilians with hundreds of rounds of gunfire and that the military then issued a news release larded with misstatements, asserting that the victims were criminals who had fired on the troops."

"The attack on June 25 killed three people, a man and two women, as they drove to work at a bank at Baghdad’s airport. The attack infuriated Iraqi officials and even prompted the Iraqi armed forces general command to call the shooting cold-blooded murder." 07-08

"A House panel Wednesday voted to cite former top White House aide Karl Rove for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to answer questions about the dismissals of several federal prosecutors as its Senate counterpart explored punishments for an array of alleged past and present Bush administration misdeeds." 07-08

"The Bush Administration estimates that expanded offshore drilling could increase oil production by 200,000 bbl. per day by 2030. We use about 20 million bbl. per day, so that would meet about 1% of our demand two decades from now. Meanwhile, efficiency experts say that keeping tires inflated can improve gas mileage 3%, and regular maintenance can add another 4%. Many drivers already follow their advice, but if everyone did, we could immediately reduce demand several percentage points. In other words: Obama is right."

"In fact, Obama's actual energy plan is much more than a tire gauge. But that's not what's so pernicious about the tire-gauge attacks. Politics ain't beanbag, and Obama has defended himself against worse smears. The real problem with the attacks on his tire-gauge plan is that efforts to improve conservation and efficiency happen to be the best approaches to dealing with the energy crisis — the cheapest, cleanest, quickest and easiest ways to ease our addiction to oil, reduce our pain at the pump and address global warming. It's a pretty simple concept: if our use of fossil fuels is increasing our reliance on Middle Eastern dictators while destroying the planet, maybe we ought to use less." 08-08

"In his new book, The Way of the World: A Story of Truth And Hope In An Age of Extremism, author Ron Suskind alleges that the Bush administration knew Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and eventually fabricated intelligence assets to support its case for war. Both the White House and the CIA deny his claims."

"Suskind, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, tells Steve Inskeep that a secret mission was conducted, in which a British intelligence agent met with the head of Iraqi intelligence in a secret location in Jordan, and that the Iraqi conveyed that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."

"Then, in the fall of 2003, the White House decided that a letter should be fabricated, dated July 2001, from the Iraqi to Saddam Hussein establishing a link to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. 'And the letter should as well say that Saddam Hussein has been actively buying yellowcake uranium from Niger with the help of al-Qaida,' Suskind says."

"He says that sources at the CIA remember seeing the order for that letter on "creamy White House stationery" and that the letter could only have come from the 'highest reaches of the White House. ... It would have to come from the very top.' " 08-08

"Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered most of his militiamen to disarm but said Friday he will maintain elite fighting units to resist the Americans if a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops is not established." 08-08

"Sapp knows that the phrasing and images could just be dismissed as a peculiar coincidence. After all, it was Oprah Winfrey who told an Iowa crowd that Obama was 'the one!' But, he insists, 'the frequency of these images and references don't make any sense unless you're trying to send the message that Obama could be the Antichrist.' Mara Vanderslice, another Democratic consultant who handled religious outreach for the 2004 Kerry campaign, agrees. 'If they wanted to be funny, if they really wanted to play up the idea that Obama thinks he's the Second Coming, there were better ways to do it,' she says. 'Why use these awkward lines like, "And the world will receive his blessings"?' 08-08

"McCain, disputing Democratic rival Barack Obama, who claims security in Iraq would have improved with or without the surge, during an interview with CBS' Katie Couric. But the war's timeline reveals the exact opposite: the Anbar Awakening occurred before the surge strategy was even conceived."

"Select "Next" to go to the next campaign mistakes by one of the candidates. 08-08

"At this point in time, a lot of people may wish they could scatter their attention the way [Rick] Warren does. He is the author of one of the world's best-selling books, The Purpose Driven Life, and the founding pastor of one of the country's largest churches, the 23,000-member Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. And on Aug. 16, he will play the role of national inquisitor in a 'civil forum' featuring (consecutively, not in debate format) the two presumptive nominees for President, who will fly to Orange County, Calif., to be civilly grilled for an hour apiece." 08-08

"The risks here are great. With casualties to Russia’s peacekeeping force and attacks on Georgian territory beyond the conflict zone, we are already seeing the potential for this to spin into a larger, Russian-Georgian conflict. In addition, many of Russia’s unstable Caucus regions — Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan — are nearby and could see a spillover of violence into their regional conflicts." 08-08

"Putting the crisis between Russia and Georgia at the top of his agenda as he returned from the Beijing Olympics, President Bush on Monday said Moscow had 'invaded a sovereign neighboring state.' " 08-08

McCain: " 'The implications of Russian actions go beyond their threat to the territorial integrity and independence of a democratic Georgia. Russia is using violence against Georgia, in part, to intimidate other neighbors – such as Ukraine – for choosing to associate with the West and adhering to Western political and economic values. As such, the fate of Georgia should be of grave concern to Americans and all people who welcomed the end of a divided of Europe, and the independence of former Soviet republics. The international response to this crisis will determine how Russia manages its relationships with other neighbors. We have other important strategic interests at stake in Georgia, especially the continued flow of oil through the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which Russia attempted to bomb in recent days; the operation of a critical communication and trade route from Georgia through Azerbaijan and Central Asia; and the integrity and influence of NATO, whose members reaffirmed last April the territorial integrity, independence, and sovereignty of Georgia.' " 08-08

"The end of the cold war was supposed to usher in a new age in which the major powers would no longer dictate to their neighbors how to run their affairs. That is why Russia's invasion of Georgia is so tragic and so potentially ominous." 08-08

"Even if the cease-fire holds in Georgia, the consequences of the crisis could be grim: Tensions might jeopardize Russian energy shipments to Europe, cut the U.S. off from access to the International Space Station, end intelligence cooperation between Washington and Moscow in the war on terrorism." 08-08

"So, regardless of the appeals of Senator McCain — and his Democratic opponent, Senator Barack Obama — the events of the past week have more likely placed Georgia's NATO membership in the deep freeze for the foreseeable future, even if the Alliance remains rhetorically committed to the idea in principle. If so, Moscow can count what has transpired as a major victory: it has prevented the advance of a rival military alliance into Russia's backyard." 08-08

"In his media avail, Obama just responded to reporters' questions about the Bristol Palin story. Noting that his mother had him when she was 18 years old, Obama said families are 'off limits' in campaigns. He was very impassioned." 09-08

"The formal business of the convention includes nominating McCain for president and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate on Wednesday. McCain’s acceptance speech, set for prime time on Thursday evening, is among the most critical events of the campaign for his chances of winning the White House."

"The hasty reordering of an event months in the planning was unprecedented, affecting not only the program on the podium but the accompanying fundraising, partying and other political activity that unfolds around the edges of a national political convention." 09-08

"The Alaska state senator running an investigation of Gov. Palin says the McCain campaign is using stall tactics to prevent him from releasing his final report by Oct. 31, four days before the November election."

" 'It's likely to be damaging to the Governor,' said Senator Hollis French, a Democrat, appointed the project manager for a bi-partisan State Senate Legislative Counsel Committee investigation of claims that Palin abused her office to get the Alaska public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, fired." 09-08

"Democratic nominee Barack Obama's lead over Republican John McCain has grown after the Democratic convention, which 71 percent of Americans say they watched. Obama and his running mate Joe Biden now lead McCain and Sarah Palin 48 percent to 40 percent, according to the latest CBS News poll." 09-08

"As questions have been raised over how thoroughly Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign vetted Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for the V.P. slot, it seems the McCain campaign was unaware of a video -- available online -- in which Palin talks about God's role in U.S. military action overseas, according to a political operative familiar with the situation."

"She urged students to pray 'that our leaders -- that our national leaders -- are sending [soldiers] out on a task that is from God.' " 09-08

"The notion of an Atlantic alliance with its hands tied has only gained steam since the Russia-Georgia conflict was touched off earlier this month. After Georgian soldiers moved to end a decades-old territorial dispute by attempting to take back the breakaway enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, Russian troops pounced on Georgia – where they remain in reduced numbers today."

"Earlier this week, Russia recognized the two regions as independent, further stoking international condemnation and feeding the fears of countries like Ukraine and Poland, an EU member, still mindful of Soviet domination." 09-08

"The [Palin] speech helped reinforce support for John McCain among those who were leaning toward voting for the Republican, but did not appear to influence those who described themselves as undecided or leaning toward Democratic nominee Barack Obama. The swing state focus groups included a mix of undecided voters, and weak supporters of either Obama or McCain." 09-08

"The nation’s unemployment rate zoomed to a five-year high of 6.1 percent in August as employers slashed 84,000 jobs, dramatic proof of the mounting damage a deeply troubled economy is inflicting on workers and businesses alike." 09-08

"The government has formulated a plan to put troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, dismiss their top executives and prop them up financially, federal officials told the two companies yesterday, according to three sources familiar with the conversations."

"Under the plan, which could prompt one of the most sweeping government interventions in the workings of financial markets in U.S. history, federal officials would place the firms under a conservatorship, a legal status giving the government the option and time to restructure and revive the companies, the sources said."

"In an effort to contain the most profound financial crisis in generations, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., leaders of the Federal Reserve and other government officials have in recent months upended decades of precedent." 09-08

"The fate of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a big deal because these two mortgage companies have gotten so big. Between the two of them, they are involved in something like $5 trillion worth of mortgages — about half the mortgages in the U.S. The total is about the same as the entire amount of Treasury debt in the hands of investors, governments and other public holders. It's a big number." 09-08

"The White House on Monday firmly rejected new allegations that President Bush ignored commanders in Iraq and top military advisers in Washington when he decided to send more troops to Iraq in 2007." 09-08

Top officials from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department and executives from several Wall Street banks met at the New York Fed's downtown Manhattan headquarters Saturday for the second day in a row try to hash out a deal to rescue Lehman Brothers. " 09-08

"A dramatic makeover of Wall Street sent stocks falling precipitously Monday, with the Dow Jones industrials sliding 500 points in their worst point drop since the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Investors reacted badly to a shakeup of the financial industry that took out two storied names: Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co."

"Stocks also posted big losses in markets across much of the globe as investors absorbed Lehman's bankruptcy filing and what was essentially a forced sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America for $50 billion in stock." 09-08

"Residents who didn't leave ahead of Ike wait for ice, water and ready-to-eat meals at a FEMA site in Houston on Monday. In nearby Galveston, hungry and exhausted residents were urged to leave that city as relief supplies failed to meet demand."

"A humanitarian crisis unfolded Monday along the Texas coast as thousands of Hurricane Ike victims clamored for food, water, electricity and gasoline — and found nothing much to go home to except streets littered with piles of debris, spewing sewage, and floodwaters crawling with snakes and alligators." 09-08

"Gov. Sarah Palin is unlikely to speak with an independent counsel hired by Alaska lawmakers to review the firing of her public safety commissioner, a spokesman for Republican presidential candidate John McCain said Monday." 09-08

"Yesterday's meltdown on Wall Street brought the economy roaring back to the center of the presidential campaign, and the question for the final seven weeks of the general-election campaign is whether Barack Obama or John McCain can convince voters that he is capable of leading the country out of the morass." 09-08

"President Bush on Friday asked Congress to approve extensive federal intervention in financial markets that he said is both warranted and essential to halt the worst financial crisis in decades. 'We must act now,' he said." 09-08

"Worse, Beijing paid $3 billion for a piece of the Blackstone Group just ahead of the private-equity firm's initial public offering last June — an investment that occurred about a nanosecond before the so-called subprime crisis began annihilating value on Wall Street and beyond. Fairly or not, the Blackstone stake has since become the symbol in China of a naive bunch of foreigners getting hooped by Wall Street sharpies. It's been the subject of withering public scorn in China and has drawn pointed private criticism from the highest levels of the Communist Party, banking sources in Beijing and Hong Kong have said. The message: Never again." 09-08

"The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index soared 4 percent to 1,255.08, while financial shares rose 11 percent, in the busiest day of trading in the New York Stock Exchange’s history. The American International Group, which the government essentially took over, jumped 43 percent. Big banks like Bank of America and the Wachovia Corporation rose more than 20 percent."

"But across Wall Street, many of the basic mechanisms of the marketplace broke down after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday morning that it would ban short selling in nearly 800 financial stocks, making it harder for people to bet against those securities, and that it also would force investors to disclose those trades." 09-08

"The Bush administration is asking Congress to let the government buy $700 billion in toxic mortgages in the largest financial bailout since the Great Depression, according to a draft of the plan obtained Saturday by The Associated Press." 09-08

"In internal government document obtained by ABC News appears to contradict Sarah Palin's most recent explanation for why she fired her public safety chief, the move which prompted the now-contested state probe into 'Troopergate.' " 09-08

"The Bush administration insisted on Sunday that Congress must move quickly to approve what one lawmaker called the “mother of all bailouts” — a $700 billion proposal to buy a mountain of bad mortgage debt in an effort to unfreeze the nation’s credit markets."

"However, Democrats said that the administration’s spare three-page plan must be expanded to include help for people on Main Street as well as the big Wall Street financial firms who have lost billions of dollars through their bad investment decisions." 09-08

"The Obama and McCain campaigns have agreed to an unusual free-flowing format for the three televised presidential debates, which begin Friday, but the McCain camp fought for and won a much more structured approach for the questioning at the vice-presidential debate, advisers to both campaigns said Saturday." 09-08

"Lawmakers closed in on a massive $700 billion rescue deal for the nation's troubled financial sector even as many lawmakers greeted the proposal with anger and skepticism, criticizing both its substance—a "cash for trash" scheme to buy troubled investments is how one put it—and the warp speed at which they're being expected to act."

"In perhaps the most ambitious economic overhaul since the New Deal, the bill would fundamentally redefine the relationship between government and the country's financial sector. Still, Democratic and Republican leaders in both chambers say the huge package could win congressional approval—probably with modifications—as early as week's end." 09-08

"Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager, has remained the treasurer and a corporate director of his lobbying firm this year, despite repeated statements by campaign officials that he had ended his relationship with the firm in 2006, according to corporate records."

"With Congress preoccupied with the massive, $700 billion bailout plan for the financial industry, General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have finally secured Part One of their own federal rescue plan. A bill set to be passed by Congress and signed by President Bush as early as this weekend—separate from the controversial Wall Street bailout plan—includes $25 billion in loans for the beleaguered Detroit automakers and several of their suppliers." 09-08

"Warned that time was running short to bolster the distressed economy, congressional Republicans and Democrats reported agreement in principle Thursday on a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, and said they would present it to the Bush administration in hopes of a vote within days." 09-08

"The Fed announced Tuesday it would authorize the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend up to $85 billion over two years to insurance giant American International Group. In return, the government will receive a 79.9 percent stake in the company, which has 74 million clients in 130 countries." 09-08

"Senators have passed a spending bill that aids Gulf Coast disaster victims and subsidizes federal loans for automakers. President Bush is expected to sign the measure despite some reservations." 09-08

"Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and New York Fed president Timothy Geithner had spent the past year staving off one disaster after another, for the most part working behind the scenes." 09-08

"Nearly every major political leader in America supported the $700 billion financial bailout bill. The President of the United States. The Vice President. The Treasury Secretary. The Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Democratic and Republican nominees for president. The Democratic and Republican leadership of the House and the Senate. All of them said the same thing. Vote yes."

"But a majority of those politicians anointed by the U.S. Constitution to reflect the will of the people voted no. This is a remarkable event, the culmination of a historic sense of betrayal that Americans have long felt for their representatives in Washington D.C. The nation's credit crisis exposed Monday a much deeper and more fundamental problem — a political credibility crisis that now threatens to harm our nation further, should the markets freeze up and more companies begin to fail, as many experts predict." 09-08

"There is nothing to suggest Mr. Biden bent any rules in the sale, purchase and financing of his homes. Rather, he appears to have benefited at times from the simple fact of who he is: a United States senator, not just 'Amtrak Joe,' the train-riding everyman that the Obama-Biden campaign has deployed to rally middle-class voters."

"At least by Senate standards, Mr. Biden does not have to try too hard to underscore his relative lack of wealth. He has long shouldered a heavy debt load; he obtained or refinanced mortgages 29 times since he was elected in 1972, and currently owes $730,000 on two mortgages on his home. In addition, he has had several personal loans, including one for up to $50,000 secured by the cash value of six life insurance policies."

"Mr. Biden supplements his $165,000 Senate salary with a stipend from teaching a college course." 10-08

"California is the latest state to be feeling economic shockwaves from the financial crisis on Wall Street in the form of budget deficits, dwindling finances and plummeting pension funds."

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said that the state may need an emergency loan of up to $7 billion from the federal government within weeks just to maintain day-to-day operations in a letter e-mailed to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry 'Hank' Paulson." 10-08

"By the end of the debate, most Republicans were not crouching behind the couch, but standing on it. The race has not been transformed, but few could have expected as vibrant and tactically clever a performance as the one Sarah Palin turned in Thursday night." 10-08

"Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he did not wait for final approval of the measure to begin preparation. He has been lining up outside advisers as his staff works out details on a multitude of complex issues."

"For instance, the government must decide how it will determine which bad assets to buy from banks and how those purchases will be made. One possibility being considered is a process known as a reverse auction in which the winners would be the financial firms willing to sell their assets for less money to the government, say 50 cents on the dollar instead of 60 cents." 10-08

"What Congress has done is to set up what amounts to a government-run hedge fund to buy up troubled securities that nobody else will buy because it is virtually impossible to figure out what they're worth." 10-08

"A battle broke out for control of Wachovia Friday as Wells Fargo signed a $15.1 billion agreement to buy the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank, while Citigroup and the federal regulators backing its earlier deal insisted that Citi’s takeover bid go forward." 10-08

"The United States military's Northern Command, formed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, is dedicating a combat infantry team to deal with catastrophes in the U.S., including terrorist attacks and natural disasters."

"The plan is drawing skepticism from some observers who are concerned that the unit has been training with equipment generally used in law enforcement, including beanbag bullets, Tasers, spike strips and roadblocks."

"Use of active-duty military as a domestic police force has been severely limited since passage of the Posse Comitatus Act following the Civil War." 10-08

" 'This bill does nothing for the Addie Polks of the world,' Kucinich said after telling her story. 'This bill fails to address the fact that millions of homeowners are facing foreclosure, are facing the loss of their home. This bill will take care of Wall Street, and the market may go up for a few days, but democracy is going downhill.' " 10-08

"If an imploding housing bubble and energy price superspike weren't damaging enough, our ailing financial system decided to slide into full cardiac arrest. And while the White House, Congress, and Federal Reserve have all shifted to DEFCON 1 to try to deal with the exploding credit crisis, even the perfect mix of fiscal and monetary policies seems unlikely to now prevent the worst recession in a generation." 10-08

"The selling on Wall Street began at the opening bell on Monday and only intensified as the morning went on. Shares moved sharply lower as the banking crisis tightened its grip on the global economy."

"The Dow Jones industrial average fell below 10,000 for the first time since 2004 after losing more than 500 points in the first hour. The index has lost more than 1,100 points — or about 10 percent — in slightly more than a week." 10-08

"The Treasury Department, in its boldest move yet, is expected to announce a plan Tuesday to invest up to $250 billion in large and small banks, according to officials. The United States is also expected to guarantee new debt issued by banks for a period of three years, officials said." 10-08

"There is no indication that Ayers and Obama are now 'palling around,' or that they have had an ongoing relationship in the past three years. Also, there is nothing to suggest that Ayers is now involved in terrorist activity or that other Obama associates are." 10-08

"Today's unprecedented decision by the world's central banks to cut interest rates around the globe is exactly what the market needs. Unfortunately, it looks more like admission of what's going wrong in the global financial system than a true solution."

"Panic selling on Monday and Tuesday that sent the Dow below 10,000 was caused by consensus on Wall Street that the government's $700 billion bailout plan simply didn't address fears that the credit crisis is spreading like wildfire outside of America's borders. That hasn't stopped. If anything, it's gotten worse this week. Banks simply aren't lending. Investors are willing to hide out in treasuries even though they're offering no return." 10-08

"In a report just released by the Alaska state legislature after a unanimous, bi-partisan, 12-0 vote of its Legislative Council, an investigator concludes that Gov. Sarah Palin 'abused her power' in the events that led to the firing of the state's public safety commissioner." 10-08

"It's hard to tell where Tina Fey ends and Sarah Palin begins. Even before Fey lampooned Palin on Saturday Night Live--the updo, the wink, the syntax--people noted the resemblance. And for a politician new to the national stage, being likened to the intelligent, witty, popular Fey was not exactly a bad thing."

"Until now, anyway. The governor's comedian doppelgänger has essentially taken control of Public Sarah Palin: the composite of images, biography and attitudes that stands in for the actual person in voters' minds."

"Public selves are moving targets, and as the comedians and media redefine them, a candidate can fight the definition, embrace it or use it as a shield. How Real Palin deals with her Fey-controlled image over the next few weeks will determine if Public Palin is her new best friend or her own worst enemy." 10-08

"In the [investigative] report [regarding Gov. Sarah Palin's possible abuse of power], the head of Gov. Palin's security detail says that Todd [Palin] spent about half of his time in the governor's office — not at a desk (he didn't have one), but at a long conference table on one side of the office, with his own phone to make and receive calls. It became a shadow office, the informal Department of Getting Mike Wooten Fired." Mike Wooten was Gov. Palin's brother-in-law.

"But even though she won't likely face any legal repercussions, the amateurism and cronyism of her brief administration hardly leaves Palin sitting pretty. Troopergate's final verdict may be even more damaging than a rebuke: her administration was, at least this regard, just as self-motivated as the Washington fat cats and lobbyists she hopes to unseat." 10-08

"Despite the finding of a legislative report that she had broken the state's ethics law in the scandal dubbed Troopergate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said Saturday that the report actually cleared her of any 'legal wrongdoing or unethical activity.' " 10-08

Provides Stephen Branchflower's report to the Alaska Legislative Council regarding whether Governor Sarah Palin abused her power when she fired her Public Safety Commissioner. Finding Number One is that "Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 39.52.110(a) provides 'The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.' "

Finding Number Two is that "I find that, although Walt Monegan's refusal to fire Trooper Michael Wooten was not the sole reason he was fired by Governor Sarah Palin, it was likely a contributing factor to his termination as Commissioiner of Public Safety. In spite of that, Governor Palin's firing of Commissioner Monegan was a proper and lawful exercise of her constitutional and statuatory authority to hire and fire executive branch department heads." 10-08

"Democratic Barack Obama on Monday called for more immediate steps to heal the nation's ailing economy, proposing a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures at some banks and a two-year tax break for businesses that create new jobs."

"The presidential candidate also proposed allowing people to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without any penalty for the remainder of the year and 2009." 10-08

"A growing number of voters have concluded that Senator John McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the Republican ticket in the last days of the campaign, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll."

"All told, 59 percent of voters surveyed said that Ms. Palin was not prepared for the job, up 9 percentage points since the beginning of the month." 10-08

"Law enforcement officials in six states can now give you a ticket for talking on your cell phone while driving, so that hands-free device you should be using for your cell phone is going to become your best friend." 11-08

"It is hard to believe now what a darling touch-screen voting was seven years ago. After the Florida presidential vote recount debacle — which made traditional paper voting, especially the infamous 'butterfly' ballots and hanging chads, look positively Third World — electronic voting was embraced as the way back from America's electoral humiliation. Some 50,000 touch-screen machines were bought in 37 states at a cost of almost a quarter of a billion dollars."

"The reversal since then couldn't be more stunning — as indicated by a bill in Congress introduced this past week by Florida Senator Bill Nelson and Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, which would ban touch-screen voting (also known as direct recording electronic voting, or DRE) in federal elections starting in 2012. 'We have to start setting a goal on this,' Nelson tells TIME. 'Voters have to feel confident that their ballot will count as intended.' " 11-07

"Touchscreen voting machines at the center of recent vote-flipping reports can be easily and maliciously recalibrated in the field to favor one candidate in a race, according to a report prepared by computer scientists for the state of Ohio." 11-08

Provides a voter's guide. "To make sure you are registered. Visit www.canivote.org. It will direct you to the registration rolls in your county to make sure you haven't been purged. It also will tell you which polling place to go to." 11-08

"General Motors’ October U.S. sales plunged 45 percent, and Ford’s and Chrysler’s weren’t far behind, as low consumer confidence and tight credit combined to bring the industry’s sales to an “unsustainably weak level” that is the worst in 25 years." 11-08

"Across the globe, people in city squares and villages, living rooms and shacks cheered his success, boosting hopes that America's first black commander-in-chief might herald a more conciliatory approach to the rest of the world." 11-08

"From Beijing's streets to France's Elysee Palace, common citizens and leaders of the world greeted Barack Obama's election largely as a sign of hope that America would mend torn international relations and lead the way out of global economic turmoil." 11-08

"Thumped convincingly in consecutive election cycles, the Republican Party now finds itself in its worse straits since the rise of the conservative coalition - a minority party without the White House, fewer seats in the House and Senate, only 21 governors and full control of just 14 state legislatures."

"Most ominously for Republicans, the GOP is increasingly becoming less grand than old - and outdated. As reflected in Tuesday’s results and exit polls, it’s a party that is overwhelmingly white, rural and aged in a country that is rapidly becoming racially mixed, suburban and dominated by a post-baby boomer generation with no memory of Vietnam or the familiar culture wars of the past." 11-08

"Obama needs to pump serious cash into the economy in a way that promotes his long-term priorities. That means billions for energy-efficient and climate-friendly infrastructure like wind turbines, solar panels and mass transit, but nothing for new sprawl roads that ravage nature and promote gas-guzzling. That means stronger levees and restored wetlands that will help protect New Orleans from the next storm, but no more traditional pork-barrel water projects that destroy wetlands and waste money. Mostly, it means revamping Washington's dysfunctional method of selecting and funding infrastructure projects." 11-08

"Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again."

"I've learned [from canvassing] that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways." 11-08

"Rahm Israel Emanuel (born November 29, 1959) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing Illinois's 5th congressional district, which covers much of the north side of Chicago and parts of suburban Cook County." On October 6, 2008, Emanuel was named Barack Obama's Chief of Staff. 11-08

"In Alaska, more people voted for George W. Bush in 2004 than for Sarah Palin on Tuesday despite an identical 61-36 margin of victory. Yes. Only four years ago 54,304 Alaskans got off their sofas and voted for Bush, but decided to sit home and not vote for Palin in 2008."

"In turn, I have to ignore the 30,520 Alaskans who felt progressive enough in 2004 to vote for John Kerry, but weren’t inspired enough to get out and vote for Barack Obama."

"Stevens is currently ahead of Begich by 3,353 votes with 49,000 ballots left to count. While Berkowitz is behind Young by 16,887 votes; a 51-43 margin. Are we to believe Don Young came from an 8 point average polling deficit to win by 8 points-a whopping 16 point turnaround???" 11-08

"The only time that Obama's race became a campaign issue for them was when the media began playing video of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor, excoriating America's treatment of blacks from his pulpit. 'That was a terrible weekend,' Dunn remembers. 'The excerpts were endlessly looped on television.' Then, said Axelrod, '[Obama] said "I'm going to make a speech about race and talk about Jeremiah Wright and the perspective of the larger issue…And either the people will accept it or I won't be president…" ' " 11-08

"On the day that President-elect Barack Obama is visiting the White House, a new national poll suggests that the current occupant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the most unpopular president since approval ratings were first sought more than six decades ago."

"Seventy-six percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday disapprove of how President Bush is handling his job." 11-08

"President-elect Barack Obama, who said lobbyists would not run his White House, signaled Tuesday that lobbyists could serve in his transition so long as their activities do not involve areas of policy they have tried to influence in the past year." 11-08

"Obama transition team boss John Podesta threw open the curtains of his operation today to reporters, signaling that the president-elect wants to move quickly, but not hastily, to set up his government." 11-08

"People in southern California dropped simultaneously to ground Thursday morning, huddled under tables and held on for about a minute in what is being billed as the largest earthquake drill in history." 11-08

"Safe haven laws [in Nebraska] were instituted in the 1990s to deal with the problem of parents who were abandoning their babies and leaving them essentially for dead in dumpsters, alleyways, or restrooms. The laws were really designed as a mechanism for these overwhelmed new parents to get their kids to a safe place right after they were born. They were always designed for newborns and infants."

"Our legislators, though, were uncomfortable trying to pick a specific age, so they decided to leave the term "child" undefined. Unfortunately that had the unintended consequence of preteens and teenagers being left." 11-08

"The Center for Automotive Research, a think tank in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that is pushing for a bailout, estimates about 2.5 million job cuts if just half of the Big Three's manufacturing capacity shuts down."

"About 240,000 of those job losses would be at the automakers; 800,000 would be at various suppliers and dealerships; and another 1.4 million job losses would come from businesses that rely on automaker spending, the think tank estimates." 11-08

"As he prepares to take office, President-elect Barack Obama is relying on a small team of advisers who will lead his transition operation and help choose the members of a new Obama administration. Below is a series of profiles of potential members of the administration." 11-08

"President-elect Barack Obama is poised to restore the United States' image in the international community, but experts say the president-elect must show the world that his actions will live up to his rhetoric." 11-08

"To succeed at modern diplomacy, it helps to take the long view. As word trickled out that President-elect Barack Obama was considering Hillary Clinton for Secretary of State, Clinton was on the phone with the President of Pakistan." 11-08

"Not since the start of the Saddam Hussein trial have Iraqis been so transfixed by a legal and legislative debate. The to-ing and fro-ing over the status of forces agreement (SOFA) with the U.S. has turned parliamentary politics into primetime entertainment." 11-08

"The chairmanship of the Committee on Energy and Commerce is a key post, since the committee will handle legislation on climate change, energy and health care that President-elect Obama is hoping to move through the new Congress."

"Besides seating a committed environmentalist as head of the energy committee, the vote also removes one of the auto industry’s best friends from a key leadership post — further evidence of how much power the American car-makers, whose executives have been pleading for federal money, have lost in Congress." 11-08

"Hillary Clinton will give up her Senate seat and accept the nomination for secretary of state, The New York Times reported Friday."

"NBC's Andrea Mitchell and Political Director Chuck Todd reported that Obama will unveil his economic team on Monday, with New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner likely taking the helm as Treasury secretary.-11-21-08 Geithner for Treasury (Time.com) "NBC is reporting that, in one of the least surprising choices of recent days, Barack Obama is going to tap Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary." 11-08

"It would be hard to blame incoming President Barack Obama if he took one look at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and decided it wasn't for him. After all, the main thing President George W. Bush has to show for eight years of on-and-off Mideast peacemaking is Hamas rule in the Gaza Strip—the result of the administration's insistence on Gazan elections and subsequent instigation of a failed coup attempt against the elected Islamist rulers."

"The most urgent front is Gaza, where a five-month cease-fire between Israel and the Strip's Islamic militant groups broke down on U.S. Election Day as the two sides resumed fire—with Gaza, as usual, getting much the worse of the exchange. The Egyptian-brokered cease-fire runs out December 19, and it's not clear whether there will be anything left by then to renew." 11-08

"These days, [Ray] Odierno and his staff are brainstorming over what the next phase of U.S. military presence in Iraq will look like. A tough battle is still being fought in Mosul and Diyala province against al-Qaeda in Iraq. Iran continues to wage a hot and cold war for influence over the future of Iraq. Militant groups are trying to regain footholds around Baghdad. And Odierno's political skills have been put to the test in negotiations over a status-of-forces agreement with the Iraqi government, which the Iraqi Cabinet endorsed on Nov. 16. Under the terms of the agreement, all U.S. forces will leave Iraq by the end of 2011. (During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama called for pulling out all combat brigades by May 2010.)" 11-08

"We were an average blue-collar family in Altoona, Pa. My father worked at the silk mill, as a shipping clerk and later as a supervisor. As businesses in Altoona cut back and then closed entirely, the silk mill did too. My father had a backup career, giving piano lessons and playing in a five-piece band for weddings and other events. As the Depression got worse, though, those things were no longer affordable. He took a job as an insurance agent. But people didn’t have the money to buy more insurance."

"I was in the sixth grade in 1929. I got a job at our grocery store, stocking shelves for 25 or 50 cents a day, plus a bag of penny candy." 11-08

"A contractor providing services to the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan has committed serious violations of its contract, mainly by conducting inadequate inspections of electrical wiring and grounding at American bases, according to Pentagon sources."

"Just after Maseth's electrocution, Pentagon officials estimated that about a dozen troops had been electrocuted in Iraq. But Pentagon officials now say at least 18 troops have been electrocuted since 2003 -- many due to faulty wiring and improper grounding." 11-08

"Under terms of the auto mileage deal, the cars and trucks sold in the United States must meet a fleetwide average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The Senate passed a bill with this standard in June, but the House version of the legislation, passed in August, did not include any new mileage mandate because of opposition led by Mr. Dingell."

"Speaker Pelosi supported the new mileage standard and vowed that she would restore it in the final bill. She appears to have prevailed but Mr. Dingell won some important concessions." 11-07

"The Bush administration backed off proposed crackdowns on no-money-down, interest-only mortgages years before the economy collapsed, buckling to pressure from some of the same banks that have now failed. It ignored remarkably prescient warnings that foretold the financial meltdown, according to an Associated Press review of regulatory documents." 12-08

"President-elect Barack Obama on Monday announced Sen. Hillary Clinton as his pick for secretary of state, calling her an 'American of tremendous stature who will have my complete confidence.' "

"Obama also confirmed that he is keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current post."

"Rounding out his Monday announcements, Obama named retired Marine Gen. Jim Jones as his national security adviser, Eric Holder as attorney general, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano as homeland security secretary and Susan Rice as ambassador to the United Nations." 12-08

"The more you make, the more's at stake. People accustomed to six-figure salaries are increasingly among those seeking jobs, as the financial sector crumbles and takes with it thousands of related white-collar positions." 12-08

"Iran halted its nuclear weapons development program in the fall of 2003 under international pressure but is continuing to enrich uranium, which means it may still be able to develop a weapon between 2010 and 2015, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Monday." 11-07

"The more you make, the more's at stake. People accustomed to six-figure salaries are increasingly among those seeking jobs, as the financial sector crumbles and takes with it thousands of related white-collar positions." 12-08

"Chrysler is the smallest of the Big Three automakers, but it stands apart from its peers in another crucial respect. While General Motors and the Ford Motor Company are public corporations, Chrysler is controlled by one of the world’s richest and most secretive private investment companies." 12-08

"Chrysler is the smallest of the Big Three automakers, but it stands apart from its peers in another crucial respect. While General Motors and the Ford Motor Company are public corporations, Chrysler is controlled by one of the world’s richest and most secretive private investment companies." 12-08

"Faced with staggering new unemployment figures, Democratic Congressional leaders said on Friday that they were ready to provide a short-term rescue plan for American automakers, and that they expected to hold a vote on the legislation in a special session next week." 12-08

"Malia Obama, the 10-year-old daughter of President-elect Obama, plans to make herself right at home in the White House and has already called dibs on using Abraham Lincoln's desk for her homework." 12-08

"Stock intended to eventually earn taxpayers a profit as part of the Bush administration's massive bank bailout has lost a third of its value — about $9 billion — in barely one month, according to an Associated Press analysis. Shares in virtually every bank that received federal money have remained below the prices the government negotiated." 12-08

"The global financial crisis is suffocating the Detroit automakers, but the problems at General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler have been festering for years—even when the mighty "Big Three" were earning billions. Aging factories, inflexible unions, arrogant executives and shoddy quality have all damaged Detroit. Now, with panicky consumers fleeing showrooms, catastrophe looms: Without a dubious federal bailout, all three automakers face the prospect of bankruptcy." 12-08

Provides a copy of the guilty plea signed by Jeremy Ridgeway, a Blackwater employee. Ridgeway confesses that he, and other Blackwater employees, fired upon, killed, and injured innocent Iraqi civilians without provocation at Nisur Square in Baghdad in 2007. 12-08

"The indictment of five Blackwater Worldwide security guards for their involvement in the shooting deaths of 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians was based largely on the testimony of a sixth guard, who recounted for federal prosecutors how the guards opened fire on a car "that posed no threat" to them." 12-08

"The Marine Corps left troops in Iraq vulnerable to deadly roadside bombs by failing to answer an urgent request from battlefield commanders for blast-resistant vehicles, according to an internal Pentagon investigation obtained by The Associated Press."

"Acquisition officials shelved the February 2005 request for the 'MRAPs' (pronounced EM-raps) after Marine leaders decided armored versions of the Humvee were the best answer to the improvised explosive devices that became the signature weapon of the Iraq war. However, the beefier Humvees proved incapable of withstanding the increasingly powerful IEDs."

"MRAPs weigh as much as 40 tons and have a V-shaped hull that deflects the blast out and away from the crew. More than 11,000 of the vehicles have been sent to Iraq and Afghanistan since May 2007 after Defense Secretary Robert Gates declared MRAPs the Pentagon's No. 1 acquisition priority. The heavy trucks have been very effective at protecting American forces from IEDs." 12-08

"The nation's farms no longer have to report to authorities the toxic, smelly fumes released from manure."

Editor's Note: Methane is 20 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. An inexpensive vaccine is available to prevent methane in the stomachs of cows without hurting their digestion. 12-08

"A certain amount of goodwill is implied in any political appointment, said Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist and former staffer in the Clinton White House."

" 'There is an implicit understanding in a situation where you're making an appointment, particularly a U.S. Senate seat, that the person you select is going to appreciate that and will reflect a degree of loyalty going forward,' he said."

" 'But it's not something you ever explicitly have a conversation about,' he said. 'The reality is there is a bright shiny line that you just don't go over.' " 12-08

"George W. Bush defended harsh interrogations by pointing to intelligence breakthroughs, but a surprising number of counterterrorist officials say that, apart from being wrong, torture just doesn’t work. Delving into two high-profile cases, the author exposes the tactical costs of prisoner abuse." 12-08

"President-elect Barack Obama has selected two of the nation's most prominent scientific advocates for a vigorous response to climate change to serve in his administration's top ranks, according to sources, sending the strongest signal yet that he will reverse Bush administration policies on energy and global warming." 12-08

"Once optimistic at having helped elect a president who promised them change, several liberal groups are now feeling slighted by President-elect Obama in his recent selections for his Cabinet as well as his decision to invite Pastor Rick Warren to his January inauguration." 12-08

"In an act of political audacity, embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich named former State Attorney General Roland Burris to fill President-elect Barack Obama's Senate seat, a position Blagojevich is accused of trying to 'sell.' "

"The appointment was instantly rejected by Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, who said he would refuse to certify Burris' selection, and by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said Burris would not be allowed to be seated." 12-08

"Top congressional Republicans cautioned Democrats not to rush through a massive stimulus package that lawmakers hope to send to President-elect Barack Obama shortly after he takes office next month." 12-08

"A downtrodden economy, the war in Iraq and a public call for change have created an Electoral College outlook and a political environment filled with extraordinary opportunity for the Democrats and enormous challenge for the GOP nominee-in-waiting." 04-08

"The proper question should be: Where is our country heading? There's no doubt that a large majority of Americans believe we're on the wrong track. That's why the candidate demanding 'change' won the election. It mattered not that the change offered was no change at all, only a change in the engineer of a runaway train." 11-08

"There were two true stunners Saturday night: the size of Sen. Barack Obama’s margin of victory over Sen. Hillary Clinton — 28 percentage points — but just as significant this number: Total turnout for Democrats in their primary was greater than the turnout for the Republican primary in this state, which is one of the most loyally Republican in the nation." 01-08

"Clinton's run has exposed a divide between what could be termed optimist and pessimist feminists. It's a split between those who see Clinton's candidacy as groundbreaking--as the first of many serious runs by strong women--and those who count backward to Geraldine Ferraro in 1984 and conclude that this kind of opportunity comes along only once in a generation. For this latter group, Clinton's candidacy took on a pressing urgency: If not now, when? If not her, who?"

"Yet [Senator Amy] Klobuchar doesn't feel she has to prove she belongs. And thanks to Clinton, neither will the next women who run for President. Clinton has shattered long-standing assumptions about whether a woman could seriously compete for the White House. She not only avoided the label of 'novelty candidate,' but embraced that of 'inevitable nominee.' She mopped the floor with her opponents in debates. 'This will only help women candidates,' says Klobuchar. In that sense, the biggest legacy of Clinton's run may prove to be some sisterly competition the next time around." 06-08

"Obama's proposal goes further than McCain's, requiring that the United States cut carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent from the 1990 levels by 2050; McCain would require only a 60 percent reduction, and distribute some of the allowances to polluters for free. Both plans, nevertheless, are more ambitious than what world leaders have so far embraced. At last week's G-8 summit in Japan, officials reached a 'historic' agreement for a 50 percent emissions cut by 2050." 07-08

"In a White House full of Bush loyalists, none was more loyal than Scott McClellan, the bland press secretary who spread the company line for all the government to follow each day. His word, it turns out, was worthless, his confessional memoir a glimpse into Washington's world of spin and even outright deception."

"It wasn't about Saddam Hussein's supposed weapons of mass destruction, McClellan writes. It was Bush's fervor to transform the Middle East through the spread of democracy." The name of McClellan's book is "What Happened." 05-08

"More than 100 countries attending a conference in Dublin, Ireland formally adopted a treaty Friday to ban cluster bombs -- a large, unreliable and inaccurate weapon that often affects civilians long after the end of armed conflict."

"Most of a cluster bomb's bomblets are meant to explode on impact, but many do not. Credible estimates show the weapons fail to explode on impact between 10 and 40 percent of the time, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross."

"That means unexploded bomblets lie scattered across a target area, often exploding only when handled or disturbed -- posing a serious risk to civilians."

"Some of the biggest makers and users of cluster bombs cited by human rights groups -- such the United States, Russia, China and Israel -- were not involved in the talks and did not sign the accord. Organizers expressed hope that those nations would nevertheless be pressured into compliance." 05-08

"Barack Obama has resigned his 20 year membership in the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago in the aftermath of inflammatory remarks by his longtime pastor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and more recent fiery remarks at the church by another minister." 05-08

"A broad shift in America's approach to the world is justified and overdue. Bush's basic conception of a 'global War on Terror,' to take but the most obvious example, has been poorly thought-through, badly implemented, and has produced many unintended costs that will linger for years if not decades. But blanket criticism of Bush misses an important reality. The administration that became the target of so much passion and anger—from Democrats, Republicans, independents, foreigners, Martians, everyone—is not quite the one in place today. The foreign policies that aroused the greatest anger and opposition were mostly pursued in Bush's first term: the invasion of Iraq, the rejection of treaties, diplomacy and multilateralism. In the past few years, many of these policies have been modified, abandoned or reversed. This has happened without acknowledgment—which is partly what drives critics crazy—and it's often been done surreptitiously." 08-08

"America contributed to the war in Georgia in two important ways. First, together with its European allies, Washington established two precedents: use of force without approval of the United Nations Security Council and the division of a sovereign nation without U.N. consent. Both precedents emerged out of Kosovo's quest for independence from Serbia, which led in 1999 to U.S.-directed NATO airstrikes against Serbia to drive Serbian military and police forces out of its Kosovo province." 08-08

"A voting system used in 34 states contains a critical programming error that can cause votes to be dropped while being electronically transferred from memory cards to a central tallying point, the manufacturer acknowledges."

"The problem was identified after complaints from Ohio elections officials following the March primary there, but the logic error that is the root of the problem has been part of the software for 10 years, said Chris Riggall, a spokesman for Premier Election Solutions, formerly known as Diebold." 08-08

"The mortgage mess that has upended millions of homeowners’ finances is now taking a bigger bite out of the nation’s banking system."

"And while depositors with insured accounts face little risk of losing their money, the insurance fund’s top regulator said it may have to borrow money from the Treasury to make good on that promise to consumers." 08-08

"In a stark warning to U.S. forces, the Afghan government said it will try to regulate the presence of U.S. troops and their use of airstrikes, while the U.N. on Tuesday announced that "convincing evidence" exists that an American-led operation killed 90 civilians." 08-08

"This Labor Day finds workers in worse shape than they’ve been in years, according to a scorecard released Monday by Rutgers University."

"In its first national labor scorecard, the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations said more than 10 percent of Americans are unemployed, discouraged from seeking work or underemployed. That is a nearly 25-percent increase from one year earlier." 08-08

"After watching two political conclaves the last two weeks, it would be easy to be confused about which was really the gathering of the opposition. As Senator John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he and his supporters sounded the call of insurgents seeking to topple the establishment, even though their party heads the establishment." 09-08

"It’s obvious that the McCain campaign and the RNC have decided to go after Barack Obama as a flip-flopper. What’s equally obvious, though, that Republicans couldn’t have chosen a worse narrative." 09-08

"Two days before she was picked as John McCain's running mate last week, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska presided over what she called 'one of the most historic and exciting events' in Alaska since statehood when she signed a bill that could clear the way for a massive natural gas pipeline."

"It's an ambitious project. The price tag for the planned 1,715-mile pipeline is an estimated $26 billion—and it's been a long time in the making. Alaskans have been eyeing their vast natural gas resources and attempting to sell them to buyers for decades."

"The pipeline, which is scheduled to be completed by 2018, is expected to carry about 4.5 billion cubic feet a day—the equivalent of about 8 percent of the country's current natural gas production. (Today, in fact, the eight largest natural gas-producing shale fields in the U.S. yield a combined 6.6 billion cubic feet a day, according to a recent private report.)" 09-08

"In Juneau, Palin has given jobs to friends and appointed lobbyists to oversee industries they used to represent. There's nothing illegal about it—that's business as usual in politics. But part of Palin's appeal is that she markets herself as a reformer who fights against cronyism, when in fact her record shows her to be, in many ways, a typical politician who rewards her friends and punishes her enemies." 09-08

"For two years, Obama played the golf course of presidential politics with the ice-cold self-assuredness of a Tiger Woods. But since securing the Democratic nomination, he’s made a series of strategic errors that could jeopardize his chances in November." 09-08

"Iraqi authorities want the U.S. government to sever all contracts in Iraq with Blackwater USA within six months and pay $8 million in compensation to each of the families of 17 people killed when the firm's guards sprayed a traffic circle with heavy machine gun fire last month." 10-07

"Madhiha Hassan is a diminutive, 37-year old seamstress whom some people have begun calling the Mother Teresa of Baghdad. She's devoted her energies to helping Iraq's internally displaced people, particularly in the Karada district where she lives."

"Few of Iraq's internally displaced can hold out hope for aid of any kind. Only a handful of international nongovernmental organizations operate in Iraq because of the dangers. And the Iraqi government's efforts to help the displaced fall woefully short. The International Organization for Migration estimates that nearly 80% of the internally displaced do not have regular access to government food rations." 03-08

"John McCain's call for a big push into nuclear power can certainly be met - if the country is willing to pay more for power and tolerate the safety risks."

"It costs between $6 billion to $8 billion to build a new nuclear reactor, according to Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute. That's about four times the cost of building a new similar-sized coal plant."

"But statistics from security tests done in the 1990s, the most recently available, are not reassuring."

"Of the 81 security tests done between 1991 and August 2001, nearly half turned up lapses that could lead to core damage and probable radioactive release, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

"Kerekes said those tests were designed to turn up failures, and they are now corrected." 08-08

"To cover the large field of candidates vying for the White House, the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer assigned each reporter a candidate to track. The Reporters' Blog, updated weekly, contains updates on the campaigns, including events, major speeches and online news." 07-07

"John McCain and Barack Obama are both selling theories about what kind of leader America needs in the 21st century. But the financial crisis yanked their notions out of the lab and tested them in real time, under a magnifying glass. And now we have a much clearer idea of what we would risk with either man."

"As the talks derailed, Obama's more hands-off approach looked like a much smarter bet than McCain's all-in hand. But Obama may also now have some second thoughts about the virtues of national unity and citizen involvement. Sometimes it feels like democracy in action. Other times it feels like mob rule. The complexity of the problem and intricacy of the solution meant that the public response was more emotional than anything else. In a leadership vacuum, we got irrational belligerence, a desire to punish the greedheads that will take its broadest toll on the victims, not the perps. And for all the righteous rage, there was a refusal to admit that in many cases Wall Street's sins are also our own: the average American has nine credit cards with a $12,000 balance; we don't save; we overreach; and together we've created a situation where the prudent who lived within their means are expected to pay for the recklessness of both their neighbors and their leaders." 10-08

"Conventional wisdom says that the vice president means nothing and that the voters going to the polls between now and November 4 are really voting on Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. "

"But looking at the role that the last few vice presidents have played, especially Vice President Dick Cheney, it is clear that the VP can make a world of difference and that we should be demanding the tough answers to tough questions from both candidates." 10-08

"In 1996, they were the "soccer moms" Bill Clinton captured to win re-election. After 9/11, they morphed into the security moms who helped give George W. Bush a second term. Four years later, they are a little older, and their anxieties have multiplied. Their numbers are enormous: They typically account for as much as 12% of the electorate. The two campaigns are referring to them as Wal-Mart moms, but a better name might be maxed-out moms." 09-08

"To celebrate Black History Month, we've chosen 25 movies to honor the artistry, appeal and determination of African Americans on and behind the screen. The films span nine decades, and reveal a legacy that was tragic before it was triumphant. At first, blacks were invisible; when they were allowed to be seen, it was mostly as derisive comic relief. The 1950s ushered in the age of the noble Negro, in the imposing person of Sidney Poitier — the Jackie Robinson of movies. Only when Hollywood realized that a sizable black audience would pay to see films more reflective of their lives, whether funny, poignant or violent, were they given control of the means of production. Sometimes. The fact remains that of the 25 films here, chosen to cover the widest range of black films, fewer than half were directed by blacks." 02-08

"It was also a journey she had begun with what appeared to be insurmountable advantages, which evaporated one by one as the campaign dragged on far longer than anyone could have anticipated. She made at least five big mistakes, each of which compounded the others:" 05-08

"Before 9/11, Osama bin Laden’s group was small and fractious. How Washington helped to build it into a global threat."

"The ultimate tragedy of the Iraq war was not only that it diverted the U.S. from the knockout blow against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan—the deaths of bin Laden and Zawahiri would likely have persuaded most jihadis it was wiser to focus on the near enemy—but that Iraq also altered the outcome of Al Qaeda's internal debate, tipping it in bin Laden's favor. 'Iraq ended that debate because it fused the near and the far enemy,' as Arquilla puts it succinctly. America ventured into the lands of jihad and willingly offered itself as a target in place of the local regimes. And as a new cause that revived the flagging Al Qaeda movement. It is, no doubt, bin Laden's greatest victory." 09-06

"There used to be an organization for people who believed in a truly limited government — limited taxes, limited spending, limited interference in individual lives and limited intervention in foreign affairs. That organization was known as the Republican Party. But the only one of those beliefs that still motivates the G.O.P. establishment is limited taxes. In 2008, people who still hold all of them joined the Ron Paul Revolution." 03-08

Outlines the Bush administration's approach to national defense in a 33-page paper.

"The great struggles of the twentieth century between liberty and totalitarianism ended with a decisive victory for the forces of freedom—and a single sustainable model for national success: freedom, democracy, and free enterprise. In the twenty-first century, only nations that share a commitment to protecting basic human rights and guaranteeing political and economic freedom will be able to unleash the potential of their people and assure their future prosperity."

Introduces a new U.S. policy of using preemptive strikes and working unilaterally when the U.S. determines that U.S. interests are served by such approaches. 9-05

"Though the report concludes that the United States remains largely free, it highlights how long-standing racial inequalities and the flaws of the criminal justice system take away more freedom for more people than anything else."

"In particular, the report highlights the strong evidence of unequal treatment of black and Hispanics. Coupled with prison overcrowding and long sentencing, these policies were particularly 'jarring,' the report says. Indeed, a black man has a 1 in 3 chance of being in prison in his lifetime compared with a 1 in 17 chance for a white man." 05-08

"Linda Robinson talked about her book Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq (PublicAffairs; September 1, 2008). In 2006 General David Petraeus was appointed the commanding general of the coalition forces in Iraq. Linda Robinson conducted extensive interviews with General Petraeus and his subordinate commanders and spent weeks with key U.S. and Iraqi divisions. In her book she ties together military operations in Iraq with the internecine political situation. Video clips were shown of General Petraeus from Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Armed Services Committee hearings on April 8, 2008." Robinson states that the lesson to be learned is that "War is politics by another means." A C-Span video. 09-08

"For a growing number of analysts, if the past year has brought any clarity, it is that US policy has largely backfired and added to the region's downward spiral of violence and economic troubles." 06-07

"When the abuses at Abu Ghraib became public, we were told these were the depraved actions of a few soldiers. The Yoo memo makes it chillingly apparent that senior officials authorized unspeakable acts and went to great lengths to shield themselves from prosecution." 04-08

"Russia's swift invasion of Georgia appears to have met its goals: humiliating a neighbor that deigned to escape its sphere of influence, and proving that the Bear still has very sharp claws. While it is not yet clear that all military operations have ceased (Georgia reported that bombings continue), the past five days have been a test case for the limits of post-Iraq U.S. power — and the nimbleness of American policy. The results are not encouraging for Washington: the incursion of Russian troops beyond the secessionist province of South Ossetia represents a direct challenge by Moscow to the U.S., the European Union and NATO, reviving the old confrontation between the former Cold War adversaries."

"What neither Bush nor either of the campaigns are saying is that the outcome of the conflict in Georgia is likely to redefine perceptions of American and European power around the world, especially in the strategically important regions of the Caucasus and Central Asia." 08-08

"THE BOTTOM LINE [on Children's Health Care]: The record suggests Clinton did indeed lobby for children's health coverage but that many others were responsible as well. And it also shows that her husband nearly killed the idea before it ever got off the ground."

"THE BOTTOM LINE [on the Northern Ireland Peace Process]: Clinton played a role in hearing the concerns of Irish women left out of the peace process, and in encouraging them to put pressure on their countrymen to pursue negotiations. But that does not mean she rolled up her sleeves and conducted or led the talks that resulted in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement."

"THE BOTTOM LINE [on Macedonia Refugees]: In the case of Macedonia, Clinton engaged in personal diplomacy that brought about change. But securing the return of American business partners is not the same as the opening of borders to thousands of refugees. That accomplishment was a result of broader U.S. and European efforts during the war." 03-08

"How did the man who is virtually certain to face John McCain in the fall come so far so fast? Much of the answer can be traced to the lessons of his first thumping. It was after that brief race in 2000, say dozens of aides and associates who spoke with TIME, that Obama learned how to be a politician." 05-08

"The country is understandably focused on the financial crisis. But there is another serious issue in front of us that is not getting nearly enough attention, and that’s whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be vice president — or, if the situation were to arise, president of the United States."

"And that is the existential challenge of 2008: whether we will have a big election or a small one. Will we have a serious conversation about the enormous problems confronting the country—the wars, the economic crisis, the looming environmental cataclysm—or will we allow the same-old carnival of swift boats and sound bites? The answer depends on the candidates, of course, and on the media—where cynicism too often passes for insight. But most of all, it depends on you." 03-08

"Call it capitulation: around the world, traders spooked by no end of bad news are dumping shares wholesale. That process continued on Friday as indexes in Asia and Europe opened trading with breathtaking falls of up to 10%. Though most markets partially rallied to limit losses to single digits, it represented only the most recent in a series of bearish days that threaten to transform a global credit crisis into a global economic crash. Does this make sense?"

" 'The markets have gone completely crazy and are reacting in fear to a bad situation in a way guaranteed to make it far worse,' says Marc Touati, deputy executive manager of the French economic- and finance-research group Global Equities."

"The sell-off will end eventually, one way or another. Governments could follow the nerve-racked Russians and suspend trading altogether, in a bid, as Touati says, to stop 'markets from sawing off the branch they're sitting on.' The more likely solution, Touati predicts, will soon come as "smart and steely investors realize selling now is a sure way to lose, while buying now will determine who the big winners tomorrow will be." 10-08

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson named a new czar to oversee the bailout of Wall Street. "Paulson named Kashkari to oversee the U.S. government's $700 billion financial stabilization program on October 6, 2008, as the interim head of the new Office of Financial Stability.[5] This is an interim appointment; the permanent head of the Office of Financial Stability will require Senate confirmation, which is unlikely before the November elections.[3]" 10-08

"OPEC on Wednesday accused the U.S. of economic "mismanagement" it said is pushing oil prices to new record highs, rebuffing calls to boost output and laying the blame at the feet of the Bush administration."

"Oil prices surged past $104 a barrel for the first time after the OPEC announcement and the release of a U.S. government report showing a surprise drop in crude oil stockpiles." 03-08

"Much of Obama's energy plan had been outlined before. But some of his ideas - such as tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and allowing a 'limited amount' of offshore drilling - were new to his campaign."

"Obama said a short-term proposal, like selling crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, 'has lowered gas prices within two weeks' in the past."

"His proposal also includes retooling the U.S. auto industry to build more fuel-efficient cars, doubling the use of renewable resources by 2012, improving the safety and environmental impact of nuclear power and reducing the use of electricity, among other ideas." 08-08

"The relentless slide in home prices has left nearly one in six U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than the home is worth, raising the possibility of a rise in defaults — the very misfortune that touched off the credit crisis last year." 10-08

"Americans' views on the economy and the general state of the country have hit an all-time low in the history of the CBS News/New York Times poll. Eighty-one percent of those polled say the country is on the wrong track, while only 14 percent believe it is heading in the right direction." 04-08

"The U.S. senate is a lousy launching pad for sainthood, a place of compromise and backslaps, of hidden doors that lead to gilded rooms where the real work gets done. To succeed is to succumb, often to the courtship of big-ticket donors."

"And yet for more than a decade,John McCain has claimed to truck with angels." 03-08

"Willard Mitt Romney, usually known as Mitt, (born March 12, 1947) was the 70th Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, elected in 2002. He served one term and did not seek re-election in 2006; his term ended January 4, 2007.[1] Romney is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, formally announcing his candidacy on February 13, 2007. Romney made his announcement at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan." 02-07

"The 2008 race for the White House that comes to an end on Tuesday fundamentally upended the way presidential campaigns are fought in this country, a legacy that has almost been lost with all the attention being paid to the battle between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama."

"It has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage — and withstand — political attacks, including many carried by blogs that did not exist four years ago. It has challenged the consensus view of the American electoral battleground, suggesting that Democrats can at a minimum be competitive in states and regions that had long been Republican strongholds." 11-08

"When you are evaluating the price of the war, weighing potential rewards versus cost in blood and treasure, I would ask you to consider what is worth the lives of three of your loved ones? Or eight? Or more? It would be a tragedy for my 8 and 3 to have died without us being able to complete our mission, but it maybe even more tragic for 8 and 3 to become anything higher." 03-08

"From their flag lapel pins to their yellow ribbon bumper stickers, every politician in America wants you to believe they "support the troops." But actions speak louder than words. When veterans' issues actually came to a vote in Washington, what did your representatives do?" 10-08

"The pain will soon come to Main Street — in Beijing and Brussels as much as in Boise. Economists are already outlining the downward spiral that they predict will follow. Banks will cut back on their lending to households and businesses. Mortgages and car loans will become harder to get. That in turn will stifle consumer spending and crimp investment in companies, leading to production cuts and job losses. Judging by previous crises, it can take about 18 months to two years for a financial squeeze to spread to the rest of the economy, which means that 2009 is shaping up to be a bleak year everywhere."

"If the global financial meltdown can be traced to an American export — the subprime mess — the U.S. will import the consequences. As the go-go economies of China and India hit the brakes, so too will demand for American goods and services." 10-08